Ocean Girl Mermaid: Just Add Water
by balletangel19
Summary: A new, mysterious and eccentric girl arrives on ORCA. Strange things occurring have the Bates and even Neri baffled. OC inspired by, but not official H2O crossover.
1. Chapter 1

**OCEAN GIRL MERMAID-JUST ADD WATER**

 **A new, somewhat mysterious and eccentric girl arrives on ORCA. Strange things happening have the Bates and even Neri baffled. OC inspired by but not official H2O crossover.**

 **The original character and later characters, are inspired by and based on the mermaids from H20: Just Add Water and Mako Mermaids, although none of those characters will appear, at least not at this time. (Although they may be referenced too) Therefore, this is not an official crossover with those series, but rather my own mermaid.**

 **One key difference about my mermaid, is that a few tiny drops of water isn't going to hurt her. She can wash her hands and take a drink from the water fountain with no worry (mostly). However, sticking her feet in water, a small wine glass of liquid, or a little too much water splashing part of her face from the water fountain, will trigger her. (I decided on this so she could wash her hands when she needs to and not worry, however it doesn't take much)**

 **I've decided this story will take place between season 3 and 4. I love season 4, but wanted to start the story earlier, when they're a little younger. The story begins sometimes after the end of season 3.**

Neri and Charley swim and play together, taking an "extra" longer swim than usual, as they slowly make their way towards ORCA. This will be the final time they'll play together for the next 14 days. After reassuring Charley for one final time of her return, and Charley reminding her that he'll be counting, Neri makes it to the divers' entrance towards the bottom of ORCA. Charley will stay near ORCA until Neri calls out to him as she boards the helicopter which will soon be arriving on the pontoon, then he will start his countdown.

Neri is more excited to be boarding ORCA than usual. She will be accompanying her friends, Jason and Brett Bate,s and their mother Dr. Diane Bates, on their holiday. It's a decision that the Bates, especially Jason, have really agonized over. Neri has expressed interest in seeing more of the mainland and experiencing more of human cultural. She was especially curious about Sydney, their location, as Brett had let it slip about a few weeks ago that they were thinking of going there. Diane hadn't been to Sydney since her youth, as her parents used to take her there every year growing up, and her sons have never been. She's been wanting to go back and take her children. Now finally seemed be the perfect time, especially after all the recent hazardous earthquakes destroying Earth's oceans. But the oceans are now healing, thanks to the boys, Neri, her sister Mera and ocean friend Kal (who both have returned to their home planet), and their ORCA friends.

While Neri had made several trips to the mainland recently looking for the Synchronium pieces, which they used to heal the oceans, and met some people, Sydney is a whole different world completely. Neri still lacks much basic human knowledge and is quite indifferent to common rules and proper manners. After giving in to Neri's demands, the Bates has spent every spare minute laying down some ground rules (the most important being that Neri never wonder off alone, to always stay close to the boys and/or Diane) and as well has trying to teach basic things, such as basic road and traffic laws, and common big city courtesy rules. They've also been working on basic table manners and etiquette. Most places they plan to eat are casual, but there is one fancy restaurant that Diane's parents used to take her too that she wants to take the kids too, and that would be a real test for Neri. They just hope they can get through it without drawing any unwanted attention.

Neri will also meet Diane's parents at the restaurant. Diane will only see her parents outside of their hometown, as being there tends to stir up a now twenty- plus-year conflict. Diane generally gets along with her parents and they are kind people, as long as they don't approach a certain topic.

There is one other reason that influence the Bates decision to bring along Neri. On her last visit to Earth, Neri's sister Mera informed them of her and Neri's days of birth. Neri had always assumed her day of birth was during the cooler months, as that's when her and her father celebrated it. Now Neri and the Bates know for sure, and it'll occur during their holiday. Jason's hoping that he can take Neri on their first real date on her birthday. What they'll do exactly he doesn't know yet, he just hopes she'll say yes, and that it won't turn out to be a disaster.

Neri comes aboard ORCA in the diving area, and gets her uniform out of the locker as usual. For once, she wonders why she must put it on, instead of one of her new outfits. She'll be changing again soon anyway. Last week, Diane had taken Neri to Port Douglas to buy her civilian clothes for the trip, including a couple semi-formals to wear to the nice restaurant as well a ballet they plan on attending at the Sydney Opera House, much to Brett's dismay. Despite Diane firmly instructing Neri to stay close, she did wonder away once, driven by her natural curiosity. Trying not to panic, Diane found Neri just down the street, watching a stilt dancer with amusement. Neri has promised not wonder off despite her over stimulated curiosity, and she'll try her best to remember to grab whomever she's with when she's drawn to something.

And in Sydney, there's a million and one things to be drawn too.

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On a helicopter pad next to a beach just a couple of hours from ORCA, a young scientist in her late 20's is pacing back and forth, her patience running out. Her daughter is late again. Sure, there was something she _had_ to do before getting on the helicopter, but she tends to lose track of time.

"Dr Hernandez;" warns the pilot, "if your daughter isn't here in two minutes, I'm leaving without you. I've got another family on ORCA I'm flying down to Sydney, and then another appoint right after that. I can't delay. You really need to have a better hold on your kid."

That last line was uncalled for, but Dr. Hernandez keeps her cool. Actually, her daughter is fairly obedient most of the time, but her natural, sometimes over stimulated curiosity, tends to get the best of her, as well as not wanting to quite what she's doing, losing track of the time. Finally, her 11-year-old daughter comes running.

"I know I'm late Mama; but there was this…."

"Tell me in the air Maria;" says her mother sternly; "now get."

"I'm sorry Mama;" says Maria; "you know how it is."

Dr. Hernandez slightly nods; "I know, but now's not the time. We'll talk about it later. Now what were you about to tell me?"

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"So Jason, you have any?" asks Neri after arriving in the Bates cabin. Jason, trying not to roll his eyes, hands Neri a box of chocolates (he hasn't told her yet that they're supposed to be a romantic gesture).

Ever since Jason introduced Neri to chocolate awhile back, she has become totally obsessed with it. Neri loves sweets in general, but chocolate takes the cake above all else. In fact, she now demands that the boys bring some everytime they visit her on the island, as well as get her some every time she boards ORCA. Neri actually didn't let the boys on the island a couple of times because they had forgot to bring some. Anything and everything chocolate, she loves, but her recent favorites are boxes of filled chocolates, peanut-butter filled chocolate balls, and chocolate covered pretzels. The previous week in Port Douglas, Diane thought she'd never get Neri out of that chocolate shop. She's never spent so much on sweets in her life!

The fact that Neri eats five times the amount of any human, doesn't help matters. That's something they'll really have to watch when they go out to eat in Sydney, especially in buffets. Perhaps one the biggest mistakes the Bates ever made was taking Neri to a buffet, and a sea food buffet at that. Neri had piled her plate high six times, plus she almost completely forgot the few basic table manners she had acquired. All the stares they got finally convinced them to leave before getting dessert. The ice cream shop they went to afterward, they were lucky to hold Neri to just 3 giant ice cream cones and a hot fudge brownie sundae!

"Brett;" calls out his mum, "Have you pack everything? Your tooth brush, toothpaste, mouth wash, dental floss, deodorant..."

"Mum;" replies Brett; "I'm not a baby." Then Brett silently creeps into the bathroom to get that stuff. "Lucky Neri. She never has to brush or wear deodorant. All she has to do is rinse her mouth out with salt water and her mouth is clean."

Neri giggles. She doesn't have the body order problems as humans, and salt water is all it takes to keep her teeth and mouth clean and healthy.

As Jason also giggles, Neri turns to him; "Jason, did you clean mouth?" Jason rolls his eyes and goes to rinse out his mouth.

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The foursome is on their way to the elevator, dressed in civvies. Neri is wearing a peach t-shirt with a dolphin design, white shorts, white tennis shoes and socks, and a pair of dark sunglasses. She doesn't need sunglasses, but is wearing them because Jason and Brett are wearing them, trying to look cool. Diane shakes her head.

"Why is visiting your grandparents difficult?" asks Neri.

"It's not difficult;" replies Jason; "Just, Mum and her parents don't agree on somethings."

"What kind of things?"

"Well, the didn't approve of her becoming a scientist for one. They wanted her to take a more traditional woman's career."

"They didn't like Dad neither;" adds Brett.

"Why?"

"Because they're old-fashion."

"Old-fashion?"

"That's enough," Diane cuts in as the elevator doors open; "Now lets go."

On top of the pontoon, the helicopter is drawing nearer. The pontoon has been expanding recently, partly for functional use, partly for an above water lounge hang-out. The board has finally approve of the above water expectation after years of rejection. In fact, the original ORCA design had included more above water space for such, but the board at the time thought the space was unnecessary as well as a waste of time and money, and that ORCA's focus should be on work, not relaxing. The additional 6 ORCA bases built around the planet afterward did include such above water hang-out space. The Florida base even has an above water café and open air workout space (the ORCA Queensland doesn't even have an underwater café and no such wide open workout space). Open-air Yoga, Pilates, and dance classes are popular at the ORCA Florida.

As the helicopter lands, freshly caught shrimp, salt water crayfish, and even squid are being unloaded from a fishing boat for transport to the mainland. The smell is heavenly to Neri. She actually likes to eat shrimp raw and starts to head over there. Diane takes her arm and warns her not to, as Neri has done it before. Neri's dismay is soon replaced by the excitement of the helicopter landing. In mere minutes, they will be in the air and on their way to the wondrous world of Sydney!

The helicopter doors open, and a lady a bit younger then Diane and a pre-teen girl emerge. The girl looks terrified and shaking a bit, and dashes from copter and runs around. She either has energy bottled up, or she must have been claustrophobic or afraid of heights. Just as she seemed to be calming down, she takes one look at Jason and Brett, who greet her. She cringes up again and ducks behind the lady. Another man tries welcome her and holds out his hand, she seems terrified. The lady urges the girl to be polite, but she only shyly nobs, then ducks behind lady again.

The Bates and especially Neri wonder way she seems so frighten. Then Diane greets them, and the girl smiles and shakes her hand with no problem. Neri also says hello, especially to the girl, who gives a little smile and wave towards Neri, but then she looks down again and ducks back behind the lady.

The lady's name is Dr. Barbara Hernandez and her daughter, Maria. They have just arrived from the Florida Keys. They have no more time to talk as the commander and senior officer arrive to greet them. They have to wait until they return to get to know them.

After the Hernandezs' luggage is unloaded and the Bates and Neri's are being loaded, the Maria notices the fresh catch and goes towards it, like in a daze. She takes a crayfish from the catch and bites off the tale, shocking the Bates and even Neri. Neri herself doesn't eat crayfish that way. Dr. Hernandez clears her throat, and Maria sheepish goes back to her mother.

Jason and Neri are the last to board the helicopter. As they board Neri ask; "Jason, why she bit the tail off like that?"

Jason shrugs, "Honestly Neri, I don't know. I've never seen that myself before."

Neri takes one last look at Maria, their eyes meet. Neri has a strange feeling about Maria, and Maria vice versa.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The Hernanderz's arrive on ORCA. Maria isn't too impressed with the way it looks, at least compared to ORCA FL. There, the reception area was a lot more cheerful and welcoming looking, with nice art work and beach décor, several couches and even a coffee and snack station, plus a large open window to the sea as the backdrop. This ORCA Queensland's reception area is little more than a hallway, very bland space station looking. No décor, no couches, not even an opening to see the ocean. Just dull and boring.

Dr. Hernández feels the same way, but puts on smile. Their welcome by the reception committee and the commander feels rather stern and icy, rather than warm and inviting. They don't even try to smile. The commander gets right down to business about work and what ORCA is all about, then hands them both the extremely thick ORCA handbook and tells them to memorize it cover to cover, front and backwards.

"Failure to follow any rules will not be tolerated;" he says, giving Maria a look that says she better not cause any trouble. She has chills up her spin. While the commander at ORCA FL was stern, she was also warm and friendly, as well as patient and understanding towards children. Even though Maria never really opened up towards her former commander, or really anybody on ORCA FL, she did feel safe around the people there and was just beginning to open up a little when they were transferred. A year isn't nowhere near long enough to start making friends.

As they walk the first hall, Maria notices a few kids, a couple seemly around her age, although socializing and making friends will be difficult for her. Maria is mostly a reserved and shy lone wolf and doesn't trust people easily, especially boys and men. Her mother doesn't easily trust people either, but is more social and less reserved then her daughter. Maria's "social life" is her mother, with very few exceptions. They are two pies in pod.

The commander first leads them to the lab that Barbara will be sharing with another scientist. It's a standard, state-of-the art industrial lab, but still bland and boring looking, like the rest of the place. Maria can tell that Barbara is already thinking about how she could spruce this area, even though she won't be in here much. Most of Barbara's work will done on and in the water on her own research boat, which they see tomorrow morning.

"What's this about your daughter accompanying you on the boat every single day?"; the commander suddenly ask.

"Oh yes, sir" answers Barbara, "You should have gotten the forms."

"I did;" replies the commander; "Headquarters approved, however, I personally don't agree with this. Why?"

Barbara looks sternly at the commander; "She always accompanies me. She's my assistant. She does her school work and everything on the boat. She's home-schooled and nearly more than two years ahead of her peers. It's much better for her then in a classroom. Just look at her transcript and reports. It all there."

"I know;" says the commander; "There's nothing I can do to overturn it. However, no other kids here accompany their parents without special permission, and 'never' on school days. She should be in the school room with the other students."

"We don't need to explain it;" replies Barbara boldly, "Next question please."

The commander is in shock at the way Barbara's talking to him. True, there's nothing he can do about it as the authority come from mainland headquarters. He doesn't like that these _Americans_ are already getting away with this. He wonders what else they may get away with.

If only Dr. Barbara Hernanderz wasn't one of the most respected young scientist in her field, specializing in sea life reproduction, nurturing, and development, as well as side studies of sea life "communications" and wreckage exploring.

Especially her lasted essays. The details are so persist, passionate, seemly up-close, and even narrative, as if she was actually there, even experiencing it for herself. He has a unique gift that's for sure.

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"This is what it like to fly;" says Neri out loud. She's never been in the air before, that she can remember that is. She wishes that they would open the windows, but the pilot won't. The head contraption is somewhat uncomfortable and her ears need air, but they can't hear each other talk otherwise, so Neri makes the best of it, pulling the ear pieces away from her ears from time to time to get them some air. The loud noise of the helicopter spinning thing doesn't bother her too much, but it does make her ears ring a little.

Aside from that, Neri's having the time of her life. She stares out the window at the waters and shores below. Everything is just so mesmerizing. She wonders if her own people had the same awe and wonder when they first came to Earth. Her father never really talked about their journey, so she doesn't know.

Finally, after 3 hours in the air (and Brett asking several times how much longer it was), the skylight of Sydney comes into view. It is the most beautiful sight ever. 

"Look," says Neri has she recognizes something from a picture; "There's that big house." Everyone looks over and sees the shells of the Sydney Opera House. Neri's never seen _anything_ like it. Jason's almost as awed by the sight as Neri, Brett is as well, although he does thinks it's rather weird looking. Diane has seen it before, but never from this view.

"This much better than the picture;" says Neri.

"Everything is much better than the pictures;" agrees Jason.

"How many people live there?;" asks Neri, "It's huge!"

"Nobody lives there;" giggles Brett; "It's an Opera house. They do shows there."

"Why is it called a house if nobody lives there?"

"I can't answer that;" says Diane; "We're going there next week. We're going to see a show."

Neri's eyes light up even more; "We're going to see inside. I will ask why it's called a house."

The Bates don't even want to try to answer that question. The pilot rolls his eyes. This girl sure does ask some weird, sometimes ignorant questions. She most definitely seems very, very sheltered. The younger girl he took to ORCA earlier seemed strange as well. She was acting rather shy and awkward towards him, seemly keeping her distance from him and not even looking in his direction, yet she was talking up a storm with her mother. Even thought they were mostly talking in Spanish, he did make out that she talking about tiger sharks. Why would a girl that age be talking seemly so cheerfully about tiger sharks? While she didn't ask any stupid questions (in fact, she didn't talk to him at all, except for a small polite thank you), there was still something very strange about her.

Brett isn't really looking forward to seeing any of the stage shows there. It isn't really his thing. Jason's not so thrilled with the theme of a couple of the shows right now.

"I still don't get why their doing Christmas shows at this time of year. Why do they have to take this "Christmas in July" thing so seriously?"

"Because they like a little bit of Christmas cheer in the winter;" answers Diane.

"I thought we did Christmas not long ago;" says Neri, who has celebrated two Christmases on ORCA with her adopted family; "It been a year already?"

"Not quite;" answers Diane; "I'll explain it more later."

Neri stares out in silence for a few moments, taking it all in, then starts asking odd questions again about everything she's seeing on the ground. Even though the Bates are used to her questions, right now it seems a bit over bearing. The pilot's just glad they'll be landing soon.

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Barbara and Maria enter their cabin. The cabin is about 250 sq., less than half the size of their former cabin. It contains just one room with two small twin size beds that double as couches, a vanity with some drawers, a few shelves, a desk and chair, a small closet, and a bathroom 'closet'. There are bigger cabins on ORCA, but none of the 500 sq. ones were available, and residency felt no need to put just the two of them into anything bigger.

Maria's especially shocked about the bathroom 'closet', which contains both the shower and the toilet. Their cabin at ORCA FL was 550 sq., while still only one room, it had room for a separate living place, entertainment center, a small kitchenette, and a small bathroom that still had a tub and a toilet that wasn't inside the shower.

Maria is very distrust; "Mama! Look at this."

Barbara looks at the bathroom; "Yea, this could be a problem."

"It's so small. I can't believe the toilet's inside the shower;" complains Maria; "what am I going to do? There isn't even a tub."

Barbara knew she should have looked into this more. Then she gets an idea; "I'll order a portable tub. But it'll take at least a couple of days to get here."

That doesn't sit well with Maria; "but that means I'll have too…"

"It won't kill you for a night or two;" her mother says sternly; "Now don't argue."

Maria hates knowing her mother is right. She also has a very important matter to attend too as she feels her skin and cotton dry mouth. This is going to be a nightmare.

Suddenly, there's a knock at the door, startling them. Maria cringes.

"Settle down sweetie. I won't let them in."

Maria sits down on the bed, fidgeting. Barbara opens the door, there stands a man with a big smile and very friendly looking face, holding a small basket.

"Hello Dr. Hernanderz;" he greets very cheerfully; "Welcome to ORCA. I'm Dr. Winston Seth and I'm one of your new neighbors." He holds out his hand, which Barbara shakes.

"I've heard so much about you Dr. Hernanderz;" Winston continues while offering the welcome basket; "We're looking forward to your stay on ORCA. Hope you are the same." Barbara accepts basket and gives a little smile. This is the kind of hospitality she's used too. She can only hope that this man is truly as friendly as he seems and not trying to butter her up.

Winston then notices Maria fidgeting and looking away; "Aw. You must be Maria. No need to be nervous. There's an old saying; the sheep that hides in cave, gets overwhelmed by his own wool."

Maria looks at him strangely. What was that supposed to mean?

"Well, I'll let you settle in. Remember if you need anything, I'm just right now the hall, in cabin 6. I'll take you on a tour later if you'd like. Remember, the sheep always get lost without their shepherd."

Barbara and Maria are both bugged-eyed, but Barbara replies; "Actually I do have a question."

"Ask away."

"Are there any religious services and groups on board?"

"Oh yes," answers Winston; "There's a church-type service in the cafeteria every Sunday evening. There are a few groups that meet weekly, and we have a couple Protestant ministers, a priest, a rabbi, and a Buddhist monk that comes aboard weekly or bi-weekly as well. Several also take a boat to attend services on the mainland every Sunday morning."

"Anything for my daughter's age?"

"Absolutely;" replies Winston; "we even have a Bible study and prayer group for our young ones."

Maria is very devote to her faith and loves listening in on Bible studies and attending church, but still can't bring herself to speak up or interact otherwise.

"I'll be seeing you both;" says Winston cheerfully; "Good day Maria, be a sunshine through the storm, or even better, a rainbow. A pleasure Dr. Hernanderz, enjoy your first evening here."

Winston leaves and Barbara closes the door. Was this guy for real?

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Neri and the Bates land at a helipad in the North Shore area near the beach, then catch a cab to their hotel. Neri continues to glaze at everything with wide eye wonder, and fortunately, this cab car keeps making several stops, so she gets a good look at some of these sights. Unfortunately, she can't leave the car to get a closer look. Diane assures her there'll be plenty of time to see the sights soon. Neri has never seen so many buildings in one place, and there are so many people here! She wonders just how many more people are inside the buildings.

They reach their hotel, located right on the beach within view of the Sydney Harbor, Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge among other sights. The lobby is huge and open, even has an indoor courtyard and sparkling crystal things Jason calls chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, unlike anything Neri's ever seen before. In fact, everything is unlike anything she's ever seen. Jason and Brett have never seen a hotel this big either. They especially love the fact that the hotel has an arcade. It also has an outdoor courtyard, three pools with waterslides, a restaurant, gift shop, and a spa. Diane has only been to a spa once, on her honeymoon, and Neri's very interested in finding out what a spa is all about. Jason and Brett have no interest in the spa.

"Jason;" Neri asks; "what are these flowers called?"

Jason shrugs his shoulders. Neri's very surprised that he doesn't know. Diane however, recognizes the royal bluebell, the waratah, and the cocktail orchid. The tree in center looks like a foxtail palm.

Neri tries to ride one of the fun looking hotel carts, but the Bates stop her. Actually, Brett would love to ride it too and whispers that to her.

"Maybe we'll be able to pull it off later;" says Brett.

After checking in (Neri registered as Neri _Bates_ (no relation) _,_ same as her ORCA ID _),_ they enter their room, which is a two bedroom suite, one for the girls and one for the boys. These living quarters are bigger and much more beautiful than the Bates quarters on ORCA. Neri may actually sleep on this bed (maybe), which is more than twice the size of the beds on ORCA, although when she spends the night there, she sleeps on the floor with the pillow and cover. The bathrooms are big, and the dunny is separate from the shower.

Both Jason and Brett drop their bags and jump on the beds. Diane needs to do what she calls "freshen up", and Neri needs a wet down before they go out for dinner. Before she does, however, she walks out onto the balcony. The sun is setting and there's a nice breeze. She gazes at the beautiful view and feels the wind on her face. Jason joins her and asks what she's thinking.

"I only wish Charlie was out there."

Jason nods; "I know you do."

"I miss him already, but these next days are going to be awesome."

Jason nods again and wraps his arm around her. The sunset over the Sydney Harbor and skyline is beautiful. This is going to be an awesome adventure. And for once, nothing is at stake.

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Maria and Barbara walk onto the pontoon, dressed in ORCA uniforms. Dinner had been interesting.

"Can you believe they don't know what G.R.I.T.S are?" asks Maria, "I also can't believe that an underwater ocean facility wasn't serving seafood tonight. What about that big catch they brought in earlier?"

"You really shouldn't have put it that you don't like 'land animals'; says Barbara; "you've been hanging out with Gabi too much. Plus I forgot that they don't have sweet tea here. They looked at me like I'm a weirdo. Should have known better."

Barbara settles down in a chair underneath a light while Maria heads towards the edge.

"You've got 45 minutes."

Maria snaps her head around; "45 minutes! That's not long enough."

I'll push it to 30 if you stand there arguing," states Barbara, "stay around the pontoon and don't dive too deep. We'll start exploring tomorrow. Not get."

Maria huffs and dives in. Barbara smiles while slightly shaking her head, and opens her book.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Cassandra "Cass" Clayhorn sits at a table by herself in the galley. With her best friend Brett, his family and Neri on holiday and most of her friends having recently left, she's feeling a bit lonely at the moment. Her other best friend, Benny, is spending time with his grandparents on the mainland. While relations with her parents and sister, Morgan, has been improving recently (thanks to counseling), they're always working and don't fill the void.

Thank God for Winston, if not for him, she'd be going crazy. If only he didn't have business on the mainland today. Cass will have to figure out how to keep herself occupied until Winston returns this afternoon. Who would have thought that "lazy" (or rather unmotivated) Cass would suddenly become interested in studying computers and wanting to understand H.E.L.E.N, ORCA's center computer, all because Winston wants to improve his own knowledge, and somehow makes it all fun? Maybe Cass has a small crush on corky Winston (as do most of the young girls here). None the less, Cass finds herself really interested in computers as of late, and she has Winston to thank for it.

Still, Cass isn't quite ready to study or visit H.E.L.E.N just yet. As she forces herself to finish her eggs and toast (despite not feeling very hungry), she gets a glimpse of somebody, then does a double take. She sees a lady and a girl around her age, maybe a little younger. She thinks she caught a glimpse of this same duo last night. They seem familiar. As the girl turns and Cass gets a better look at her, she can swear that she's seen her before. When the lady turns around, Cass recognizes her.

 _Is that lady who mentored (or at least attempted too mentor) Morgan?_ Cass thinks; what _was her name, Dr. H? She had a daughter didn't she? Oh yes, I talked to her a couple of times. Maya, Mia, or was it Mariah?_

Morgan used to complain about Dr. H being too nice and friendly, more interested in being a friend to the cadets' rather than giving them orders. Morgan, who for years has been an inflexibly strict, by-the-book, and extremely unfriendly alpha jerk (although she's started to mellow recently after nearly dying from a poisonous stonefish sting with help from counseling) hadn't had any respect for her assigned mentor and always treated her (and everybody else) like dirt. Everybody else, however, highly respected and loved Dr. H, firm and authoritive but very kind and nurturing, even knowing how to have fun with the kids when off duty.

Plus, she never took any crap form Morgan and always put her in her place, which Morgan despised.

 _Dr. H's daughter,_ thinks Cass sipping her orange juice; _oh yes, I don't really remember her saying much of anything. She always kept to herself._ The Clayhorns had transferred from FL to Queensland before Cass really had a chance to get to know the daughter. _Still, seeing a familiar face from FL is great. Maybe Maya (or whatever her name is) could use some help settling in. It was hard for me that's for sure._

As Cass gets up, she sees the local band of bullies picking on Dr. H's daughter, and not a friendly sort of way. Cass is so fed up with these guys. Their alpha, Herold, has been terrifying ORCA for weeks. If you dared stand up to this guy, he made sure you'd regret it. Nobody but NOBODY stands up to Herold, not even his own father.

Among poking the poor girl in the chest and pulling her hair, he's about to poor something on her. Cass knows what his is. It's glue, and not just any glue, but the Herold's own special hot glue that burns on contact, pulls the skin off, and leaves red sores and blisters for several days or even weeks. Cass isn't about to let this girl endure that. She'd much rather endure it again herself.

Before Cass gets close enough, however, somethings wrong. The glue isn't coming out. Infact, the cup itself seems stuck to Herold's hand. He hollers, then shouts that it's cold. The cup is "frozen" to his hand! The whole thing is frozen!

Everybody's laughing, including Cass. "What a minute;" she wonders; "how did that happen? Well, serves him right."

Meanwhile, Dr. H and her daughter have disappeared.

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"Good morning Jason and Brett;" greets Neri as she comes out of her room. Both boys gasp at the sight of her. Neri's wearing a sleeveless, blue and white tie-dyed cotton dress with white flip-flops. Her hair is in a pony-tail and she's wearing a bathing suit underneath.

"Are you going to do that every time you see me?" Neri asks with a smile.

"Yea, umm…" Brett looks at Jason.

"We're, just….not used to seeing you in normal clothes that's all;" replies Jason.

"Why?" asks Neri, "I've been wearing them for 3 days."

"Yea, but it's still weird;" says Brett.

"You look lovely Neri;" says Jason ( _She looks good in everything,_ he thinks); "Well, shell we get going? The breakfast buffet should be open by now."

"Why is Mum going to a workshop this morning?" asks Brett; "We're on vacation."

"You know Mum Brett;" answers Jason; "she can't help herself."

"Mother will be with us for lunch, right?" asks Neri.

"That's the plan;" answers Brett; "now let's go. I'm star….ving."

Brett's voice suddenly cracks.

"Brett, you ok?" asks Neri.

"Yes, I'm….fine;" goes his voice again; "Not again. It did this last night."

Jason laughs, "Uh oh. Brett's starting to go through 'the change.'"

"What change?" Neri asks, concerned.

"His voice;" answers Jason; "Don't worry, it happens to all us guys. My voice changed at Brett's age."

"Mine couldn't possibly be as bad as yours was;" says Brett.

"Put a sock in."

Neri laughs as they close the door behind them.

After breakfast, the trio ride underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge on a ferry. Yesterday, they rode across the bridge on bikes, which didn't take Neri long to learn how to ride. They also couldn't resist doing the Bridge Climb to the top of the bridge's arches for unforgettable panoramic views at 135 m above sea level. It was wonderful, but at the end of the day, even Neri was worn out and sore from the bike. Today, they wanted to something a little less strenuous. They take a tram tour, the boys telling Neri to hold her questions until it was over. When the tour was over, she had a hundred questions, maybe 200 hundred.

They then spend some time swimming and snorkeling at one of the turquoise colored beaches. Neri kept trying to remember not to stay underwater for too long, and pretending she needed a snorkel like humans was very, very awkward. She manage to get through it, however, without drawing any attention. She's never swam in water so beautiful, and there's definitely new and different things to see in these waters, but still much sea life that Neri recognizes.

Wearing a human bathing suit also felt funny a couple days ago, but Neri hardly notices it anymore.

After stopping at cheesecake house (Diane's going to kill them for spoiling their lunch, but their on vacation), Diane calls Jason's phone and tells them she's running late. They stop at a smoothie stand (Jason's not going to be hungry anymore after this). Neri comments on how the smoothie taste just like the yellow fruit on her island.

"Your right, it does;" agrees Jason.

"Hey guys, look at this!" calls Brett.

Jason looks at the sign; "Mermaid museum? You've got to be kidding me?"

"Mermaid?" asks Neri, "What's a mermaid?"

"Half human and half fish?" answers Brett; "Kind of like you, but with a tail instead of legs."

"They aren't real Brett;" replies Jason; "Why would they have a museum for them?"

"Let's find out." Brett runs inside, Jason and Neri follow suit.

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 _4 days, 10 more to go._

Charley is enjoying some krill and a much needed "rest" after defending two female juveniles from some orcas. Orcas rarely, if ever, mess with whales Charley's size, but will sometimes attack smaller juveniles. Charley's thinking of Neri. He misses her terribly when she's away, but knows she'll be back. While he waits, he patrols his territory, protects the local females, and sometimes plays games with the local bottlenose dolphins. Like most male humpbacks, Charley spends most of his time alone, but interacting with the dolphins and black whales from time to time is a nice change, especially when there's a local smorgasbord. He says hellos to some dolphins as they pass.

Charley then hears the vocal of another male humpback in the next territory over. The adult males are solitary animals and generally stay away from each other so they don't conflict over territory or females, but do share important messages from time to time, as well as some local gossip.

Charley's fellow humpback gives him a very interesting message. He says there's a new, strange looking fish in the area. He didn't get a good look at the front of it, but says that it had a long, shining, golden-scaled tale with an up and down motion. The strangest part of that it appeared to have hair floating around like Neri, and seemed to have human hands and arms. It had disappeared behind a large coral wall. The whale said he felt like it was watching him, but he didn't see it again.

This is interesting news to Charley. A creature with a shining, golden tale and human-like features. Charley has heard tales of similar creatures from other whales during migration, but none have ever been seen in this area. The other whale can't confirm if it really was part human-looking or not. Is it dangerous? Is it harmless like Neri? Is it similar to Neri? This is interested indeed. Charley just hopes it's not a threat to anything.

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Barbara removes her diving gear on her research boat. While smaller then her last boat, it's also more advanced, with the latest equipment aboard. While she doesn't start her research projects for another couple of days, she's allowed to just take the boat out and explore the area and get familiar with it. Among the projects she'll be working on is tagging baby dolphins, sharks, turtles, whales, and other animals to study their growth and development. If their fortunate enough find and tag any pregnant animals, maybe even get a camera inside any of them, it would be giant breakthrough on any of these species.

"Maria, where are you?" says Barbara looking at the water and folding her arms. She grabs a device which lets out a signal sound in the water. Just as she's about to place it in the water, she gets splashed, big time. Maria sticks her head above water, laughing.

"You never miss;" says Barbara spitting salt water out her mouth; "And where have you been?"

"Hey Mama, check this out!" exclaims Maria ecstatically. She rises her hands from the water to reveal a sea snake.

"MARIA! Let go of that snake!"

"She's alright;" answers Maria as she lets go and watches the snake swim off; "it wasn't venomous. That was a spine-tailed sea snake. The only eat fish eggs."

"I know. Just be careful;" replies Barbara firmly; "Many sea snakes are venomous and we don't know what that could do to you. And don't bring anymore snakes to the boat. I'm not here to study sea snakes."

"Why not?" asks Maria; "shouldn't we add them to our repertoire?"

"I won't promise that."

"Hey Mama; can we go explore that island we passed earlier?" (Not Neri's)

"I don't see why not."

"Great! Race ya." Maria ducks her head back under.

"Magali Marie! Come back here!" Too late. Barbara quickly goes to the boat controls; "Sometimes I swear that girl's going to drive me crazy."

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"Jason;" asks Neri looking at mermaid drawings and artwork; "why are some so beautiful, some so, scary looking?"

Jason shrugs his shoulders; "I think that depends on the artist."

"Cool;" says Brett reading some info; "I didn't Christopher Columbus and Black Beard saw mermaids."

"They didn't;" exclaims Jason; "it was manatees. They used to be mistaken for mermaids before scientist identified them.

"What do manatees look like?" asks Neri.

"Here's a picture of one here;" points Jason. Neri smiles looking at the picture of the strange looking creature. It didn't look like any of the mermaids. She's really wishing that she could read the words. Maybe it's time she learned how to read.

"Look;" says Brett, "they even have a display on Ariel."

"Ariel looks like one of those cartoons;" says Neri.

"She is;" replies Brett; "she a movie character. Maybe they'll have that movie in the library back at the hotel. We should rent it and watch it tonight."

"I'm interested;" agrees Neri.

"Brett, that's a kid's movie."

"Excuse me, who's idea was it to watch Old Yeller last night?" Brett reminds Jason.

"That movie sad;" says Neri.

"That's different;" replies Jason.

"Sure it is;" giggles Brett.

Jason knows this will lead to defect; "Ok. We'll watch it. If they have it."

"Hey, where did Neri go?"

Jason notices; "She was next to me. Neri!"

They spot Neri a few exhibits away, staring at something.

"Neri;" warns Jason; "you're not supposed to wonder off."

Neri apologies; "Sorry, I saw this."

They look at an artifact that appears to be a mis-shaped pie slice. Its teal-blue colored, might be some kind of jewel, but it appears a little bumpy rather than smooth.

"Look at it;" says Neri, "it looks like part of the Moon."

Jason and Brett take a closer look at it. Now that they think about, it does look like part of the Moon, perhaps a 3rd of it.

"What does…it say, Jas?" asks Brett, his voice cracking again. The other two giggle.

"Hey, cut it out."

Jason reads the description; "Found by the sea explorer robot Nixie in an underwater cave in the Arctic Ocean 40 miles off the shore of Tuktoyaktuky, 1700 m down. Believed to be carved from moonstone. Origin and purpose unknown."

Neri stares at the object intensely; "Wow. Very beautiful."

Jason's phone rings. It is Diane. She's waiting for them up the street.

"Ok. Mum's waiting. Let's go."

Neri looks at the object one last time, then follows the boys. She feels there's something special about it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It's 5:00 AM on ORCA. Cass yawns as she walks the hallway. She can't believe she got up so early on a Saturday, or this early period, especially during winter holidays. She and Winston are making an early morning dive to document the recovery of the reef, which was all but destroyed during the earthquakes. They have to get documentation of all 24 daily hours, and since they'll be stuck in mandatory lectures most of day (why the kids have to know about the ocean related statistics and ORCA economic issues is beyond her, and on a Saturday!), Winston decided to document the period right after dawn. Despite the ridiculous hour, Cass really wants to do this project.

Cass briefly encounters Dr. H and _Maria,_ they too are headed out early. After a brief but friendly exchange, they are on their way. Maria said "Hello Cass" and "Bye Cass", but otherwise stayed silent. Cass had finally met them the other day. Dr. H not only recognized Cass, but actually greeted Cass by her _name_ , rather than as Morgan Clayhorn's sister. It was so pleasantly shocking, and refreshing.

Maria recognized Cass too, but could barely manage to speak. It seems to Cass that Maria wants to speak to her, but it seems as if her shyness is getting in the way. When Maria opens her mouth, she mostly stutters and gibbers. Then she goes mostly silent and just listens, only nodding or shaking her head in response.

Aside from Maria's unusual shyness, she seems a little eccentric. She doesn't eat her meals in the cafeteria, it's rumored that she wouldn't touch a guy with a 39 and a half foot pole, and she supposedly won't eat "land animal" meat, although she does seem to like seafood. In fact, just yesterday after they'd returned to ORCA, Maria was eating freshly caught, raw shrimp with her hands. She even ate the heads and tails! Cass gets grossed out just thinking about it.

Cass stops to get a drink from a water cooler. She hears an unwelcoming throat clearing from behind. She turns around to see Herold. What's he doing up at this hour? Probably spent the night with a girl again.

"Did I give you permission to drink from this fountain?"

"It's called a cooler. And I don't need 'your' permission."

"You dare be smart with me?" Herold grabs Cass's shoulder hard.

"Let go of me!" yells Cass, but Herold yanks her away from the cooler and slams her hard into the wall; "I'll teach you to go ahead of me."

Herold grabs a cup, turns the nod, and water pours out. Then suddenly, a large amount of water shoots out at him from the cooler. The pressure is so strong that it slams him into the wall, and it keep coming and coming.

"Well I guess I should be thanking you;" smirks Cass, "or I'd be the one getting a shower." She walks away rubbing the back of her head. She then looks back as the water continues to spew out at the deserving bully. Then Cass thinks about it, and realizes that shouldn't be happening. If it did, the water would be shooting down, not up or straight, and shouldn't have pressure even remotely close to high. Oh well, perhaps Herold is finally getting what's coming to him.

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Neri and Diane are getting ready for the day. Diane is braiding Neri's hair into a side braid. They will be having 'girl time' today while the boys are on a 'Pirate Adventure'.

Diane finishes the braid with a teal colored clamp to match Neri's peach and teal outfit. "We're finished;" she shows Neri the finished product with her hand-held mirror; "How's that?"

Neri smiles; "It's beautiful. Thanks Mother."

"No problem. I'm glad it turned out as good as it did. It's been so long since me and my cousin braided each other's hair."

"Will we meet her and daughters with parents and boy's grandparents?" asks Neri.

"Mother said they'd be there;" answers Diane; "I'm surprised that Jenny's bringing her daughters to an upscale restaurant. They're two and five."

Neri looks at the picture of Jenny and her girls that was recently sent to Diane. While Jenny is Caucasian, the older girl is Asian and the younger girl is dark-skinned.

"They look different from their mother."

Diane nods; "That's because they're adopted Neri."

"That mean she did not birth them?" Neri guesses.

Diane nods again; "Yes Neri, but she loves and cares for them as if she did. That's adoption."

Neri smiles; "Like you are to me Mother." She gives Diane a huge hug; "Do they call her Mother, or Mum?"

"Yes they do Neri."

Diane grabs her things and they head out the door.

"Mother, may we eat at that French Toast place?"

"It's actually called a pancake house Neri;" corrects Diane; "but yes, they have several kinds of French toast there."

"Why not call it French toast and pancake house?"

Neri looks at the cover of "The Little Mermaid" movie as they are returning it. They had watched it two nights in a row as Neri wanted to see it again. Diane had told her the differences between the movie and the original novel, which is one of her all-time favorite books.

"I'm so happy Walt Disney changed the ending;" says Neri; "I would hate to see Ariel so sad and die."

"It's fine for the movie;" says Diane, who's a not so secret fan of tragic romance novels; "but there's a certain beauty about a not so happily ever after."

"What's so beautiful about it?"

Diane shrugs; "Never mind Neri. It's really hard to explain. My parents, Jenny, and the boys don't understand either. The boys and Jenny just love to torment me about it."

"Mother, do you think mermaids are real?"

Diane, who would have said no before meeting Neri, shrugs; "It's possible."

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Charlie receives another message from his fellow male humpback on this beautiful morning. Gossip about the strange creature has been crazy amongst the local humpbacks, yet this latest message reveals that the other male has finally got a good look at the creature, and confirms that it is indeed half-human, half-fish looking. It appears to be a juvenile female, several years younger than Neri. She swam around the whale for a little while, and when he determined that she wasn't a threat, he allowed her to come close to him. She sounded like she was attempting to communicate with him, but it sounded more like a dolphin attempting a humpback song, and he couldn't help but laugh. She seemed to have no problem communicating with the local dolphins.

Charlie can't wait to tell Neri about this. Seven more days until her return. For Charlie, that can't get here soon enough. He would love to see her himself, but Charlie doesn't dare wonder too close to the other male's territory. If they get too close to each other, they won't be able to help their nature hormonal aggressive towards each other. They have no control over it what so ever, although it doesn't stop them from communicating from a safe distance and cooperating together to keep the waters safe.

Charlie wonders if this strange creature will appear in his territory. So far, she's only been seen in the other male's, which makes Charlie a little jealous, but it could only be a matter of time before she wonders into his. He'll just have to be patient.

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Barbara is diving among some underwater trenches. She and Maria have just been among the first in the world to successfully tag an Aussie humpback dolphin, as very little is known about them. Now out of curiosity, she's checking out the new life beginning to return to the recently damaged reef. Barbara is then greatly surprised to see a couple other divers in the area. She hadn't expected anybody else to be out here, especially this early. They wave to her before they continue with what looks like videotaping the reef.

A little while later, Barbara returns to her boat to see another boat headed towards hers. It is Dr. Winston Seth, along with Cass Morgan. _What are they doing out here? Maye I should have asked Cass what she was doing this morning._ They pull up next to her and sit on the edges of their boats.

"Hello there Dr. Hernández;" greets Winston, "We didn't expect to see you over this way."

"Likewise," replies Barbara; "I'm surprised to see you too. Good morning again Cass."

"You too Dr. H."

"Well we are filming the reef as it recovers. Heard you successfully tagged a possibly pregnant orca the other day," says Winston; "How ever did you manage that?"

Barbara doesn't know what he's talking about; "We didn't tag an Orca. We observed some underwater and would love tag one. But we haven't yet. We just tagged an Aussie humpback dolphin, however."

"You did?" replies Winston ecstatically; "That's exciting! We know so little about them. There's an old saying; you must pull off the layers to know what's under them."

"I think you're getting a little lame Winston;" giggles Cass. Winston would love to stick his tongue out at her, but he'd never dare. "By the way Dr. H, where's Maria?"

Barbara looks at Cass; "Oh she's exploring."

"Exploring what?"

"I need to pick up her actually."

That wasn't an answer. "She exploring all by herself?"

"Now Cass, probably one of the island beaches. You've explored those by yourself too;" Winston turns to Barbara; "I've heard you both are quite seasoned explores and off-the-grid adventurers."

Barbara nods; "I swear we've spend more time sleeping under the stars in the wilderness then indoors. You'd be surprised at well she can handle herself."

"If I can, she should be able too;" says Cass; "she sure is shy though. Every time I talk to her, she gets nervous and tongue-tied."

Barbara nods; "She is painfully shy. She doesn't trust people very easily, but once you get to know her, she's a firecracker."

"If you can get to know her."

"Seems like a very sweet girl;" says Winston; "Yet she seems to keep her distance from people. The bird never leaves the nest without taking that leap of faith."

 _I guess this guy really is for real,_ thinks Barbara.

Just then, a humpback whale breaks the surface. Barbara can't believe it. She's never seen a humpback whale before. She stares in awe as he jumps up gracefully and descends back to the water. This is so much more amazing then any video.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" asks Winston.

"That's an understatement;" replies Barbara; "Is that your chap Dr. Seth?"

"No, that's Henry, this is his territory. Our chap is Charlie, he roams the territory just south of here. If you think Henry's amazing, you need to see Charlie."

"I hope we'll get to see him;" says Barbara.

Winston looks at her; "I'd love to stay and chat longer, but we'd better be getting back. Time for our lectures, right Cass? How exciting!"

Cass rolls her eyes; "Yea, fun. As if any of us kids are interested that ORCA business and statistics. What a drag."

"Aw come on Cass, be excited for our future. As the old saying goes…"

"Come on Winston, enough already."

"Children just don't respect good old wisdom this days."

Barbara giggles at that. As they prepare to leave, Cass nudges Winston.

"Ah yes. Dr. Hernández, I was wonder…..if…you…would…;" Winston swallows; "be interested in, getting tea, or coffee, and….swapping research. I'd love to hear more about your work."

"Lame;" Cass says under her breath.

Barbara is rather surprised by the invite. She doesn't want to be rude, but she's not so sure; "Well, I'll let you know. See you later."

Winston nods, then he and Cass drive away, kind of disappointed that he didn't get a definite yes.

Once they're out of sight, Maria emerges from under water; "Are they gone?"

Barbara kneels towards her daughter; "Yes. Good job staying out of sight sweetie."

Maria lefts her upper body out of the water and rest her arms on boat ramp. Her top looks like the top-half of a bathing suit and is gold and shiny. "Mama, guess what; I swam with a hump-back whale!"

Barbara looks stunned; "Not that big male I hope." Maria nods with a big smile; "You got that close to a giant male?! Maria that could have been dangerous!"

"Actually;" explains Maria; "I kept my distance for a while, then he came closer to me. I got a little closer and I swear he was inviting me closer. He accepted me! I felt safe the whole time. It was one of the greatest thrills of my life!" Maria can't help but splash and leap for joy.

Barbara breathes a sigh of relief. Naturally, she's at a phase of motherhood in which she's caught between protecting her daughter and yet giving her the right amount of breathing room and trusting her judgement. "I'm glad it turned out alright. I just want you to stay safe."

Maria nods; "I know. I was."

Barbara sighs; "Well, I guess we'd better be getting back to ORCA. Come on board and dry off."

Its Maria turn to sighs; "Aw Mama. Can't I swim half way as usual?"

"I'm afraid not sweetie;" replies Barbara, exasperated; "We don't have time right now to dilly dally. We've got those….lectures."

"Why are they making kids my age attend lectures about economics and statistics anyway? Why not just give us handouts if they want us to know that stuff."

Barbara swipes her half dried hair from her face; "Believe me honey; my lectures will be a lot more boring than yours."

Just then, a pinkish, gray colored dolphin sticks it head above the water and cheerfully whistles at Maria.

"Hello again Ariel;" Maria is communicating in "dolphin language", with dolphin sounds coming out of her mouth. Maria didn't really name her Ariel, that's the closest "Human" name that her dolphin name translates into. "Sorry girl, I can't play anymore right now, but I'll come again tomorrow."

"Is that the same girl we tagged;" asked Barbara.

"Yes ma'am. She's been following me and we've been playing. Said she lost her companion just recently to sharks. Poor girl. Hope she finds another one soon."

"I was wondering why she seemed to be alone." As far as humans know, Aussie humpbacks dolphins tend to stay in smaller groups then other dolphins, some even in pairs. They are generally shy about boats and humans and stay near shallower waters.

Maria lifts herself onto the boat ramp. Her lower half is currently made up of not legs, but a mermaid's tale with golden, shiny scales.

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"Oh WOW;" says the message therapist giving Neri an open air beach message; "Young lady, you're so lean and feminine-looking, yet your muscles are about the most firm and tone I've ever felt. You must be a very strong swimmer or something."

Neri, who's eyes are covered by cucumbers, smiles; "Yes I swim."

"A lot apparently, yet you still look like a lady;" says the therapist; "Wish I could get similar results. I love to swim, but it makes me look bulky. I have to balance it with ballet and Pilates to stay lean."

Diane, on the adjacent table, can relate.

"We going to see ballet at Big House in a few days;" says Neri.

"The Opera House? Oh you'll love it;" replies the therapist; "I've done the behind the scenes tour. It's amazing how much work and people and stuff goes into putting on those shows. It's mind blowing."

"Are you seeing "The Nutcracker" or "Swan Lake?" asks Diane's theorist.

"The Nutcracker;" answers Diane.

"I have a friend in the ballet company;" she adds; "She begged to do Swan Lake. Says she's gets enough Nutcracker at Christmas. Amazes me they're doing it in July."

"It's only 3 shows;" responses Neri's therapist; "And I think Christmas in July is AWESOME!"

"Of course would. You're a Christmas freak."

One of the cucumbers slips off Neri's eye. The therapist puts it back; "Why do we have to have food on our eyes."

"I really don't know;" replies the therapist; "I wonder who ever came up with this idea. But I have to do it. It's part of the package."

"That's about, 40 times this week we've been asked that question;" says Diane's therapist.

"I think you're counting that customer who asked, what, 12 times? She was so determined to have an answer other then we didn't know."

Diane and Neri both giggle. It's becoming more obvious to Neri that many humans actually know so little about their own world. True, Neri actually knows very little of her own world and people, considering that she doesn't remember, but all these humans have never left their birth world. Why do they know so little about it? Maybe it's because most humans never leave their home territories. Neri certainly didn't know hardly anything outside her island home and ocean territory before meeting Brett and Jason.

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The lectures for the kids started at 10:00 AM and are still going on at nearly 4:00 PM. The Bates boys and one other kid's vacations were approved months before the lectures were even planned, allowing them to be excluded. However, they will have private sessions when they return. Hopefully they're sessions won't be as long and boring as these. Most of the kids are now having trouble staying awake and focusing. Aside from two 10 ten-minute breaks plus a half-hour lunch break, it's been one lecture and boring slide show after another. Cass and Maria both feel this is just plain ridiculous, especially for the younger kids. And why 6 hours of this. To make matters worse, they are told that after another 10 minute break, they'll be at least another hour or two of lectures.

"Oh joy;" says Cass under her breath.

"No talking, or whispering," reminds one of the older cadet leaders. Cass had asked one of them on the last break why they were keeping them for so many hours. "It's all part of the training" had been the answer. The adult's lectures are supposedly even 'worse', and they'll be stuck in them at least until 8:00 PM. The commander had said they was even more information to cover than originally planned, plus a last minute speaker, so they had to extend the time frame to be done with them in one day.

One kid isn't here, Herold, even though he's supposed to be. Herold just doesn't care and will do whatever he wants. He didn't care at all about getting into trouble with commander, as if Herold's father would let that happen. To say Herold gets away with _anything and everything_ and is _spoiled rotten_ is truly an understatement.

The next 10 minute break finally arrives. Maria just wants to run like crazy all over ORCA and not stop for at least 2 hours. Even better, SWIM! Her body is all jittery and hyped up. Her butt and legs are hurting and cramping. While she can focus, she really can only sit down for so long. Plus being a home-schooler and not used to being around so many people at once for so long, she's about to have a melt-down.

Cass wants to see Maria, but she runs out of the lecture room as if on a mission. Cass noticed at lunch that Maria turned down the choice of ham or turkey sandwich, as well as the milk, eating only the orange and carrot sticks, and drinking 3 bottles of water. No dessert was provided, just extra fruit, in which Maria choose an apple. She actually said to Cass that she wished for bananas. That's the first whole clear sentience Cass can recall coming from her.

Maria runs up and down the hall until she's told to quit. Her mouth is parched. She takes several drinks from the cooler. Her skin is itchy and feels dry and flaky. The lifts and stairs are being guarded to make sure nobody leaves this level. She can't do her business here outside her cabin, it's seriously risky.

Near the end of the break, everybody heads back to the cafeteria. Maria simply can't wait another two hours. She slips away the opposite direction and finds the stairs at far end of the level no longer being guarded. They lead towards the diving area. She will be a few minutes late returning to the lecture, but she'll just have to endure the consequences. What she needs to do is far more important.

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"I can't believe other team found the treasure before us;" says a disappointed Jason; "We lost time on that one clue."

"Hey, it's not my fault we got it wrong the first time;" says Brett; "besides, there was three of them. It sure was fun though."

Jason nods; "Yea it was. It would have been more fun it we had won."

The boys have just finished a treasure hunting adventure. Jason's tends to take being competitive a little too seriously, even the smallest games. Brett just enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. They grab some hamburgers and pass a book store.

"Hey Jas, let's see if they have the latest Dragon Ball manga."

"Brett, that's not supposed to come out until next week."

"So, it never hurts to look. It might have come out …..early;" Brett's voice cracks again; "All man, I wish my voice would make up its…mind."

"I told you they wouldn't have it silly;" Jason says a little while later.

"Oh well; let's see what else they have here;" replies Brett.

Jason isn't much of a book store enthusiasts, mostly because when he was little, his mum spent hours and hours looking through and reading mostly tragic love novel, and books on science and history, while he was bored stiff. Doesn't mean that he doesn't like his share of books, just doesn't like to stay in book stores or libraries for too long.

"You know what Jas? Since we're here, let's find some picture books and post cards for Neri. She's been asking for some, beside, I haven't got her anything for her birthday yet."

"Knuckle head;" says Jason; "Her birthday's tomorrow. Why do you always wait until the very last minute to do your shopping?"

"Oh really;" Brett gives his brother a funny look; "You're no better. Wasn't it two years ago that you forgot to get Mum something and you told her it was in the mail? She didn't believe you of course."

"Hey; I least I didn't forget her birthday again. I remembered the cake and ice cream."

"Better not forget anything tomorrow;" Brett teases.

"Put a sock in it."

"What so romantic about a lighting bug show in a marsh anyway?"

"I said put a sock in it!"

Brett shrugs while looking there the children's picture books. He finds one with pictures of different landmarks from around the world and another with sea life from all across the globe.

"Bet she'll like these." Then Brett a sees story book for Disney's "The Little Mermaid." "Hey Jas, I know she'll love this!"

Jason takes a look through the book; "They're too many words. She can't read silly."

"Oh not like these picture books don't have a few words. Besides, she knows the story, she'll only need the pictures."

Jason shakes head, but then a bizarre, probably rather stupid idea comes into his head; "I wonder if there's a book on mermaid myths or something."

Brett gives his brother a funny look then laughs; "Are you kidding? Why would you want to read about mermaids?

"Not for me silly;" replies Jason; "For Neri. Since she's asking so many questions about mermaids, it'd be good to have a reference book of legends to read to her."

Brett smirks; "Can't say her interest hasn't rubbed off on you."

Jason gives Brett a stern look. Yet it is true, Neri's new obsession with mermaids has got him interested too. After asking the sells lady, to Jason's surprise, there is indeed a book on Mermaid myths and legends at the store.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Jason and Brett are impatiently waiting on the girls. Jason is so nervous he's actually sweating. Tomorrow is Neri's actual birthday and he has something extra special plan, but tonight, they're dressing up and meeting their grandparents at the nice restaurant Diane and her parents used to go to, along with their "Aunt" Jenny and her daughters. Jenny is actually Diane's cousin, but the boys always referred to her as Aunt Jenny as she and Diane are more like sisters. Diane will meet her parents anywhere except her childhood hometown, due to a certain "issue".

The Bates have drilled Neri in restaurants etiquette and really hope she'll remember it all as well as sticking to the story that she's Diane's "assistant" and intern. So far, she's got by just fine on the trip, but this will be her biggest test yet. Diane has already told her mother that Neri refers to her as Mother since she's never had a true mother figure, which she understands and accepts.

The ladies are taking their sweet time, something Jason really hoped wouldn't rub off on Neri. The boys are dressed in dress shirts and slacks. Both feel like idiots, especially Jason with his hair slicked back (his Mum's insistence). At least she's not making them wear jackets and ties, although Brett dress shoes are squeaky and stiff. He intends to take them off underneath the clothed cover table.

Neri finally emerges from the bedroom. The boys think they must be dreaming, especially Jason. Neri graces in a wine colored lace sheath dress with cold-shoulder details and swingy bell sleeves. Her hair is pinned up with a few curly hanging loose. She's wearing a fresh, natural make-up look, not that she needs it. She's wearing mid-heel sandals, which she's clearly uncomfortable in.

"I hope I do not fall and break ankles in these;" says Neri, a little nervous.

"Neri;" says Jason, chocking a little, "You…ah…look…breathless."

"That's good, is it?"

"You bet it is;" answers Brett giving a thumbs up.

Diane emerges, wearing a Navy blue short sheath dress, crafted of tier after tier of bead-trimmed chiffon. They boys keep staring at Neri.

"Ah-hem, boys;"

Her sons don't even look at her; "Oh, hey Mum."

"Aren't you boys forgetting someone?"

Jason barely glances; "Oh yea, you look good Mum."

"Nice Mum;" says Brett.

"Oh joy;" Diane says outload.

"What are we supposed to say?" ask Brett; "You're our Mum."

Neri, who has already complimented Diane, does so again; "You look very beautiful Mother."

"Well, at least somebody cares. Thank you Neri."

Neri smiles in return _._

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Charlie swims just below the surface, enjoying at little late afternoon sun. It's been an interesting day so far. First, some spinner dolphins decided to play tricks and have some fun around him. Sometimes the spinners are fun, sometimes, they get on Charlie's nerves, and he was grateful when they finally left to go feed. Then, a male blue whale, a little smaller then Charlie but not fully grown, tried to pick a "fight", but Charlie assorted his dominance with tale signals and the blue whale left peacefully. If that wasn't enough, some orcas tried to separate a humpback calf, "Little Neri" (one of Charlie's own off-spring), from her mother, Missy (Charlie's main mate and the dominate female), but mother and Charlie took care of them. Little Neri is once again safe and sound.

Suddenly, Charlie gets another message from Missy. Fortunately, it's not bad news this time, just strange. Missy's just seen a pinkish-gray Aussie humpback dolphin swim by, alone. This is interesting, and baffling. Those dolphins rarely wonder into Charlie's deeper territory, they're supposed to stay in shallower waters as they can't hold their breath for very long. They're usually seen in Henry's territory, which is not only much closer to the mainland shore, but also has more shallow areas, and fewer predators to threaten them. Plus, they usually form smaller social groups then other dolphins, some functioning as only pairs or trios, but never alone.

 _What is this little dolphin doing this far from away from shore, alone?_

Charlie tells Missy to follow the dolphin, for her own protection. Since Missy has a young calf to attend too, she summons another female to help.

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Maria, now in mermaid form, swims along the reef some distance from ORCA. She doesn't know how long she's been out here, and decides to surface for air. She only intended to take a few minutes, but true to her nature, she lost herself in both the freedom of swimming and her natural curiosity to explore, further from ORCA then she's been allowed to go so far. When she surfaces, she notices the position of the sun, stating that she's been down there between 30 minutes to an hour, perhaps an hour since she was beginning to get a little sort of breath. If she heads back to ORCA now, maybe she can sneak back in without anybody noticing she's been gone. For sure she's going to be forced to sleep on the "dry" bed again instead of the tub. Maria doesn't actually have to stay wet through the night, it just feels much more natural to her.

Maria takes a breath, enjoying the ocean breeze for a moment, then she gets splashed from behind. She turns around can't believe who's behind her.

"Ariel?" she says first in "human" speak, then catches herself and switches to dolphin.

"Ariel, what are you doing here?"

Ariel squeaks cheerfully and splashes Maria again.

"You followed me? Ariel that's dangerous."

Ariel's not interested in explaining, she just wants to play. She does say that that morning had been the first time since she lost her companion she's been happy, and seeing Maria makes her happy again.

"Well, maybe a few more minutes."

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It's the moment of truth, the Bates and Neri meet Diane's parents, Phil and Mary Irwin. Mary and Diane could be twins. They even have the same hair style, except Diane's is shorter, and the same blond hair, though Jason insists that his grandmother's hair is dyed, which she denies.

Mary smiles and gently shakes Neri's; "Hello there. You must be Neri. Lovely to meet you dear."

Neri smiles; "Lovely to meet you too,...uh...Mrs. Irwin."

"Call me Mary."

"You may call me Mr. Irwin;" says Phil with a slight chuckle.

"Phil!"

"I mean Phil. Just joking."

The boys look at each other and giggle. That's their grandpa.

As the usher leads them to their table, Diane asks; "Where's Jenny?'

"In the dunny with the girls. She wanted to get that out of the way."

Diane looks around and doesn't see any other small children in the somewhat elegant restaurant. The next youngest child must be at least 10. If 5-year-old Lola is as spunky as ever, this is going to be an interesting evening.

Neri and the boys look around. This is definitely a fancy and elegant restaurant. Even the center pieces for the tables look like crystal, which is probably real. Neri, who usually doesn't get nervous at all, keeps telling herself to believe in herself, she'll get this right, she'll do just fine. Everything always works out.

These weren't just any people, however, these are Diane's parents and family.

One of the ushers slides out a chair and looks a Neri. She just stands there, not getting it.

"Oh;" gasps Jason. How could he forget tell her about this? "Just sit down Neri."

"Ok." Neri doesn't get it, but she sits and the man slides the chair underneath her, then finishes pushing her towards the table.

"Say thank you;" whispers Jason.

"Thank you;" says Neri to the usher. He nods, then dose the same for Diane. Another does the same for Mary. That was strange, but nice. But why didn't they do it for the men?

These waiters are dressed in very fancy and stuffy looking tuxedos. Neri wonders how they breathe with those collars and bows tied so tightly around their necks. They're also have long napkins, or towels, draped over one of their arms, which they have in a strange position. They don't smile, just have stoic frowns on their faces.

Before they order drinks, a high-pitched child's voice yells; "Grandma, Grandpa!" and little pounding steps heads towards their table, soon to reveal a small, Asian-looking child. It's the same older girl from the picture. She jumps towards Mary, who scoops her up into an embrace.

"Hello sweetie;" greets Mary that hugs and kisses.

"Lola;" calls a woman headed towards them, holding a smaller child in her arms. This is Jenny and Kelly.

"What did I just tell you about running in here?"

Neri smiles as everyone exchanges hugs. Diane notices that the people around them are looking at them. And she was worried about Neri attracting attention.

Jenny gets the girls settled and everybody spends time catching, when they can sneak in a word when the chatty Lola takes a breath, which she does very little of it seems. Neri learns that Phil is a retired Bio-engineering professor, and now helps out Mary at her shop, which she says has been in the family for 3 generations. Mary looks at Diane when she says that, and Diane looks away. Lola mentions that her grandma's shop has candy, fudge, and ice cream. Mary laughs and says there's much more than that, such as coffee, candles, soap, décor and other things. Neri's really interested in the goodies and wants to know more. The more they talk about the shop, however, Diane looks down and seems distrusted. Phil changes the subject, towards Jenny. Jenny is a Nurse practitioner and a midwife on the side. Her parents were both killed in a boating accident when she was eight, which Jenny somehow survived. Afterward, she lived with her aunt, uncle, and cousin.

"My parents are gone too;" Neri says to Jenny.

"We heard;" replies Jenny; "What did your father do Neri?"

"He loved the ocean;" answers Neri; "he loved all living things. He was good and wise."

"So he was a marine biologist? Like Diane;" says Phil.

"More like an environmentalist;" says Jason.

"Like the Mentalist?" asks Lola

"No silly girl;" answers Jenny; "I knew I shouldn't have let her watch that show. That means he studied the environment. Nature."

"Dose he study spiders?" Lola bounces in her sit. Neri was surprised she'd ask that question, since most humans don't seem to like spiders.

"Yes, he studied everything."

Lola then starts singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Jenny tries telling her to sing it more quietly, but can't help but giggle. Everyone else at the table giggles too, though other people in room seem annoyed.

After salad, and bread, they're served this strange looking appetizer with a very strange name. Neri takes a closer look at it; "Is this snail?"

"YUCK!" Brett and Lola both said. Nobody else at the table, except for Phil, even tasted them. Neri has never ate snail on her island, but she tries it anyway. It has a very odd taste to it. It's not great, but it's not bad either. The next dish is oysters and meatballs. Jenny cuts up the meatballs and give them to her daughters. Lola takes an occasional bit between words. Kelly just sits there quietly, mostly looking at her food, playing and eating on occasion. When she does look up, she has these big, beautiful dark brown eyes, like she's wondering about everything and taking it all in. Neri can relate.

"Where did they come from?" ask Neri.

"I come from China," answers Lola; "Kelly from here."

"Here? Sydney?"

"Australia;" answers Jenny; "She was left at a ranger station in the Central Desert Region."

This perplexes Neri; "Why? Why would any mother or father leave their baby?"

Jenny shrugs her shoulders; "I really don't know Neri. But fortunately there are people who will have them. These two were destined to be mine."

"I love you Mummy;" Lola wants a kiss.

"I love you too sweetie;" Jenny kiss Lola. Kelly then wants to give her Mummy a kiss, which Jenny accepts.

Neri laughs and smiles. It's sad to think that the girls' birth parents might not want them, or couldn't have them for some reason, but they have a mother now.

"Do they have a father?"

Jenny shakes her no; "The romance department hasn't been too kind to me."

"She's been married;" says Brett; "it was a disaster I heard."

"BRETT;" Jason, Diane, and Jenny all say in unison.

"I wasn't a disaster;" says Jenny; "just wasn't meant to be."

"I thought he was a womanizer."

"Brett;" warns Diane; "if you say one more about that I swear I will take you to the lobby and pop you. I don't care how old you are. That's history."

"Please;" says Jenny.

"I'm sorry;" says Brett; "I didn't mean to be rude.

"What's a worm-a-nister?" ask Lola.

After the get off that subject, they continue to chat. Diane and Jason are amazed at how well this is going, at least on Neri's part. Her questions, and answers, haven't been too bizarre and the family seem to like her. While everybody else continues to chap, Mary looks at Diane.

"I can see why you haven't adopted her yet."

Diane nearly chocks; "What do you mean, Mother?"

"Please, I've noticed the why Jason looks at her;" answers Mary; "I can sense that she's a good and kind girl. It would be awkward if they were legally brother and sister."

Diane's amused. Her mother's always had a kin judgement of character; "You're right mother. It would be."

"Always the romantic;" says Phil; "but seriously, we're proud of you taking her in Diane. Everybody needs a family."

Diane never thought that her parents would think that Neri's her foster child. This is perfect.

"Neri's birthday's tomorrow;" says Brett.

"Really?" replies Phi; "Well Happy Birthday Neri."

Everybody else says Happy Birthday, except Lola who ask if it's was Kelly's birthday again.

"Kelly's birthday was two weeks ago sweetie;" answers Jenny.

"I wish it be Kelly's birthday again, then we can have cake and party again. Mine's forever away."

"Only 7 more months;" Jenny giggles.

Neri giggles too. She hasn't had much contact with young children, and she definitely enjoying Lola.

"How old will you be Neri?" ask Mary.

"I will be 17 years;" Neri answers.

"Now that's a great age;" says Phil; "Right Jason."

Jason shrugs his shoulders; "I guess."

The main course arrives. A two pound lobster is placed in front of Neri. She picks up the lobster utensils. She practiced with these the other night. She hopes she can get this right, but it would be so much easier eating with her hands.

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Maria finally arrives back on ORCA. It is now dark outside. The kids' lectures should be over by now, maybe the adults as well. She mentally braces herself for her mother, the punishment's not going to be pleasant, although it probably servers her right, but what about Ariel? She promised Ariel she'd be back out tomorrow. Ariel shouldn't be punished. Wasn't her fault.

The door of the diving bay opens. Maria quietly makes her way to the hall. She must make it back to her cabin unnoticed. Surely, everybody on ORCA has been searching for her. She'll just stay quiet when questioned and look down, like she always does. She decides to take a back way, using stairs, through a storage level. Nobody should be there at this hour, plus they've most likely already searched this area. As she makes her way down the hall, a door to one of the units opens, and out comes Herold. He looks real angry to see her.

"What are doing here?"

Maria doesn't answer, she just tries to turn the other way. Herold grabs her hard and pins her to the wall.

"Are you spying on me? Is that what you're doing?" he pokes her hard in the chest. She's actually feeling pain. "What did you see? Do you know what happens to little snoops?"

Maria's now angry. She grabs Herold's wrists and starts twisting it.

"OUCH! What the…" Then she over powers Herold and pushes him to the floor, giving her just enough to run.

"HEY! Come back here you little freak!" Herold runs after her. Maria heads down a flit of stairs. She hears Herold's voice shout from behind her; "HA! You ran right into my trap!" Maria trips over of a wire and falls face first down the stairs. She could have been badly hurt if she didn't reach her arms straight out and fall straight down. She can taste blood in her mouth. Her nose is bleeding too. But that's not the worst of it. Something wet spells all over her.

"NO!" She tries to get up and run, but slips.

"Take that you freakizoid!" It's too late, Maria transforms into a mermaid as Herold appears on top of the stairs. She quickly raises her hand and freezes him solid in a block of ice.

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Charlies about to settle into his "resting" stage when he hears another message. He can hardly believe he hears and ask Missy to repeat it. It's actually happened! The creature in question has actually been seen, in 'his' territory. Not only that, but the humpback dolphin that Missy spotted earlier was playing with her, for at least a couple of hours into dark. They spotted Missy and signaled hello, but seemed to respect that fact that she was nursing Little Neri and kept a safe distance. They spotted the other female as well, who let them come near her for a closer look. The creature keep trying to calm down the overexcited dolphin, and was making perfect dolphin sounds. She was obviously communicating with the dolphin. She tried to speak to the whales, but sounded like a dolphin attempting to make humpback whale songs, just as Henry had described. It was funny and amusing, but she didn't quite make sense.

The creature seems friendly and harmless so far. Charlie can't wait to see her himself. It should only be a matter of time now. He sends the message to Henry, who's amused that she, and that dolphin, have moved so far in such a sort amount of time.

Charlie especially wants to make sure that this creature is harmless enough to meet Neri. Neri no doubt will want to meet her, but Charlie needs to protect Neri first and foremost.

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Neri fumbles with the lobster utensils until she noticed that Phil was eating his small lobster by hand. She puts down the crazy utensils and follows suit. Lola and Kelly put down their forks and eat with their hands as well, then do Brett, Jason, and Jenny. Finally, Diane and Mary join in. They must have looked like they were eating barbecue ribs instead of seafood, but the waiters say that it happens much more often than they think.

Neri has excused herself to the restroom. When she's finished, she wets her hands and arms at the sink. She's starting to feel a little dry, but she can hold out a full wet down for a little while longer. She doesn't need to mess up her make-up or dress. She can't wait to get out of these shoes, but is enjoying being dressed up non-the-less. When she's finished at the sink, she sees Jenny come in with Kelly in her arms.

"Hey Neri. Diaper change."

"Diaper change?" Neri wonders.

"Yep." Jenny lays Kelly on a table as Neri watches; "She'll start potty training soon, I hope."

 _So that's it._ Neri realizes that human babies must start out like this. She wonders if she did too. Kelly looks at Neri with those big, brown eyes and soon smiles, showing off her pretty little teeth.

"Does she talk?" ask Neri.

"Not yet;" answers Jenny; "Unless you count baby talk. She should start forming words before long, but I dougbt she'll be the chatter box her sister is. She's a lot more mellow then Lola."

"Mellow?"

"Calmer, except when they're playing. They both seem to be equally stubborn."

Neri giggles at that.

"Mother's parents seem so nice," says Neri, "Why does she say seeing them is hard?"

"Mother? Oh Diane;" replies Jenny; "She said that?"

Neri nods.

"Well;" says Jenny as she puts redresses Kelly; "I really shouldn't say, but you are part of the family now. You remember Aunt Mary saying the shop's been in the family for 3 generations. It was started by our great-grandmother, who passed it on to her daughter, our grandma, who passed it on to her daughter, Mary, and Mary…"

"Wants to give it to her daughter, Mother;" finishes Neri.

"Exactly. Diane has never wanted to run the shop, and neither do I. Mary still hopes one of us, especially Diane, will give in, and we've both wrestled emotionally with it. But we both have different dreams and we choose to pursue them. I certainly don't have the talent to run the shop, and Diane's always felt the ocean calling her."

"Is there anybody else?" ask Neri.

Jenny grabs Kelly hand as the girl slips on her sippy cup; "There could be, but she can't, or won't, consider that idea. She's stubborn, just like Diane."

When they return to the table, there's a chocolate cake desert waiting for Neri. The waiters all sing a special birthday song for her and light a candle. Neri is so surprised and happy. She's never felt so love.

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Maria carefully uses her Hydro-Thermokinesis to gradually thaw out Herold. Barbara guards the door of the storage room they dragged him into, giving Maria a stern stair. She understands that Maria needed to wet down, but she should have just soaked for a few minutes and come right back. Ariel or no Ariel (despite being shocked and amused that she followed them here) Maria's 3-hour absences lead to all of ORCA looking for her. It took all of Barbara's wits and patience to defend her daughter from the commander and the staff. Ture, Herold's partely to blame too, the nerve of him playing a hurtful prank such as that, with dangerous acid chemicals. So far, Maria hasn't suffered any effects, having a much higher tolerance due to her powers, but they'll have to watch that. Maria's already sincerely apologized to her mother for panicking on the spear of the second. She didn't know what else to do to keep her tail from being seen.

"He's not moving yet Mama;" Maria has some panic in her voice.

"I'll check his temperature again." Barbara puts the thermometer in Herold's ear. She'll have to discipline Maria later, as the latter can't break her concentration. Since Maria's full-blown Hydro-Cryokinesis is so powerful, Herold's only frozen in suspended animation.

"Close enough;" says Barbara; "Now, carefully switch one hand to your _Hydrokinesis_ to get his body fluids going again, slowly."

Maria dose so, visibly nervous, but she manages. She looks at Herold's still silently blue face; "I don't get it. Why are boys so mean?"

"They're not 'all' mean;" says Barbara; "We've seen some real mean girls too. There are some good men."

"If there are any nice ones; why won't you date one?"

"Focus Maria;" sneers Barbara; "I'll be having a talk with Herold's father tomorrow."

"But if you do that; you'll lose your job and career so I've heard."

"I'll worry about that."

Maria looks at Herold again. Why is he so mean, why dose he never get punished, it seems. Does he have a soft side, as Grandma says, most everybody has a good and soft side. Plus, those who are bullies are usually victims themselves. Is Herold a victim? Have people hurt him? But still, people have bullied Maria, and Barbara, all their lives, and they're not mean. Why is it that some people are good and kind, and some are mean and sadistic. Barbara wonders that herself. Despite all the psychology she's read, she still can't answer that question.

He also accused Maria of spying. Why?

Barbara feels Herold's heart beating, and his twitching. She gives him a sedative, so that by the time he wakes up, they'll be long gone. Finally, he body temperature is back to normal and he's breathing normally. They leave him on the floor leave. They go straight to their cabin, Maria finally relaxes.

"Phew. That was a close one."

"You bet it was;" says Barbara; "Now, what to do with you?"

Oops. Perhaps she spoke to soon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Note: The chapter after this one, I'm skipping ahead several days to move the story along.**

 **Caution: Heavy content reference.**

Today is Neri's birthday, and mostly likely the first time since her arrival on Earth it's being celebrated on the actual day. Neri wakes up early, climbs out of bed, and goes outside on the balcony. The sun is just peaking over the horizon. Neri usually wakes up to the chirping birds and daylight, so she doesn't see the sunrise often. She takes in the nice sea breeze and thinks about her father. He used to pick a day, which he believed was near his daughter's birthday. He would wake her up early and carry her to the beach (until she became too big to carry) to watch the sunrise. He would have a special breakfast made for her, a piece of each of the fruits that grow only that time of year along with a special fruit and honey blend. They would take a special swim, looking for nearby areas and islands to explore further from their home than usual, as well as collect new shells, rocks, broken coral, and seafood that migrated through the area only that time of year. Then her father would cook a special feast, shared a story, song, game, prayer and blessing shared only on her birthday, and give her a new toy he made for her.

Neri would also make a wish at sunset. Once she wished she could fly, which has now come true with the helicopter ride. Another year, she wished for a true friend and companion other than her father and the island animals. A few days later, she fell from the cliff and was rescued by Charlie. She can remember one of her earliest wishes, a pink, blue, and green sea shell. Her father found one and gave it to her a few weeks later, not knowing of her wish. That shell remains one of her most precious treasures.

Then there was that one wish, made when she was 10 years, to meet other people. Father told her later that would happen one day, when the time was right. Her father died before that time, telling her to hide and trust nobody, unless Charlie said otherwise. He would know.

Now here she was. Destiney assured that Brett would end up on her island and she would meet him and Jason, and eventually their mother, Winston, and a few others. Along with Charlie, they are her family. Neri looks up at the heavens. She knows her father's up there looking down on her, and she knows he's proud of her.

"I love you Father."

Later after breakfast, Neri receives her gifts. Diane gives her one of her childhood treasures, a large Scaphella junonia shell, which is cream colored with about 12 spiral rows of squarish brown dots, kind of like a leopard print. Diane had found two of them one summer on a trip in Florida with Jenny and her parents, the summer before they died. The junonia is a hard shell to find, and it's rarer still to find two of them on the same beach within several months. The odds of both girls finding two a piece, on the same beach, same day, unheard of.

"Sure you want to give this to me, Mother?"

"Of course my darling;" answers an emotional Diane; "I still have the other one. It's like giving a part of myself to you."

Neri, in tears, hugs Diane; "Thank you Mother."

"Why not give the shells to us?" Brett ask Jason.

Jason gives him the shoulder; "Really Brett, that's all you can say?"

"Sorry."

"Besides;" Jason whispers; "It's a special thing for mothers to give cherished things to daughters, or daughters-in-law or somebody like a daughter, especially if they don't have their own."

Brett sort of understands. Sort of.

Later Neri opens the children's books (Jason's saving the mermaid book for later), and spends the next hour looking at them, especially the landmarks on Earth, asking numerous questions about them. Among the pictures is the Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef, and even Ares Rock. Other man-made locations include the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Roman Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Great Pyramid of Giza, Petra, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Panama Canal, and the Eiffel Tower.

"Why is called Awful Tower? It's beautiful."

"Not Awful Neri, "I" ffel Tower;" answers Jason; "That used to confuse me too. Brett called it Awful Tower until a couple of years ago."

"Did not!" protest Brett; "It was 'three' years ago I finally got it right. Not my fault I didn't hear it right all those years."

Diane can't help but chuckle; "And the number of times I tried telling you that you had it wrong."

Natural wonders in the books included the Grand Canyon, the Harbor at Rio de Janeiro, Mt. Everest, the Northern Lights, Paricutin Volcano, and Victoria Falls among others.

Neri had no idea at all that Earth was so vast, with so many, many wonders in it.

"These are just a few;" says Diane; "there are far more things then what is in these books."

"Yea;" agrees Jason; "we could spend our entire lives just exploring Australia and we'd never get to see half of its wonders, at least that's what I've heard."

"Cass has been to the Grand Canyon;" adds Brett; "she said they rode down into it on mules. She was sore for days. They camped in it and it was freezing. They also went rafting; she fell into the river twice."

"Sounds like fun;" says Neri; "I want to do those things. What is a mule?"

"A four-legged animal that's not very smart;" says Brett; "Cass says next time she goes, she's staying in the hotel and going down by bus."

"Mules are smarter than you think, son;" replies Diane; "although I think I'd rather hike myself."

Neri's about to say that she wants to see it all, then realizes that'll probably never happen. As much as she'd love to see as much of the world as possible, she doesn't want to be away from the sea, her island, and especially Charlie too much for too long. A trip like this is good sometimes, but there's still no place like home.

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Sunday morning on ORCA is always fairly quiet. For many faculty, it's the only day of the week they take off, although a few, such as Cass's workaholic parents and sister, still work. Some take Sunday shore leave to the mainland to attend church, then usually spend the rest of the day enjoying themselves. Some just hang out in their cabins and relax in the mornings then socialize in the afternoon, or watch a movie or game or something.

Cass usually sleeps in at least until 9:30 or 10 AM on Sundays, but she's up and waiting in the galley at 9:00 AM. Morgan wants some quite time with her before the brunch crowd starts pouring in. Morgan never used to take breaks at all, definitely never spent time with her sister unless she was supervising her punishments and making her work. Now, Morgan takes at least a 15 min coffee/tea break every day just to chat with Cass, which they never used to do. Morgan remains strict and non-nonsense, if a little less mean and arrogant, on the bridge, but towards Cass, and her friends somewhat, she's mellowed, really trying to be nice and let go of her normally arrogant attitude, which hasn't been easy for her. Her almost death, along with counselling, made Morgan realize how important her family, especially her sister, really are. She certainly hasn't changed overnight, but she's been taking baby steps, and is slowly but surely making progress.

Morgan's already made more progress this past week then in the past 2 months, just being around Dr. H again, whom she was actually very nervous about seeing. She admitted to Cass that she never bothered treating her old mentor with any respect, and that Dr. H didn't deserve that. Morgan always felt vulnerable around her, because Dr. H was usually right and could put Morgan in her place, which she hated. This time around, things are going to be different.

Morgan arrives; right on the button, grabs some coffee, and takes her sit.

"So;" says Cass, "I saw you looking at Cadet Russell again."

Morgan almost spits out her coffee; "How dare you. Stop saying that."

"Oh come on;" replies Cass; "I know you like him."

Morgan almost blows up, but catches herself; "Let's talk about something else. Why do you always have to be so, annoying?"

"Hey, I'm your sister;" smiles Cass; "It's my job to annoy you."

"Not about that, please."

Despite trying to keep a stern face; Cass notices a slight smirk behind the coffee cup. They talk a little about what they both are working one, as usual. Morgan then puts her cup down, straights up, and looks Cass right in the eye.

"I was wondering, if, maybe, you would like to go diving with me next Sunday?"

Cass is quite shocked to hear that; "Ah, sure, I guess. What are you researching?"

Morgan looks uncomfortable; "Nothing. Just…for…fun."

"Did I hear right?" ask a shocked Cass; "Did you just; 'Fun'?"

"I did;" Morgan can tell what Cass is about to ask next; "No I'm not sick. It's, been a long time since you and I just, hung out. I thought maybe we could just dive, like we used too."

"Really Morgan. No research, no work. Just 'Fun'?"

"Cass, do you know how hard it is for me to ask you this?"

"Sorry sis;" replies Cass; "If it'll make you happy."

She just doesn't quit; "I'll take that as a yes."

Cass smirks. This is shocking indeed. She wonders who gave her the idea, the phycologist or Dr. H. Probably the latter. This is such a big step for Morgan, and for Cass as well.

The food is ready and the brunch crowd will start coming in momentary. Morgan excesses herself, claiming, as always, that the brunch food is a heart attack. Morgan likes to appear invincible, with no weaknesses. Yet before she leaves; she goes over to the buffet and hides a cinnamon roll in a napkin, which she places underneath her arm pit. Cass giggles, Morgan giving her the "Don't you dare saying anything" look, then leaves. Cass shakes her head, Morgan Clayhorn does have a chink or two in her double steel armor.

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Barbara is inside her cabin, reading her Bible and devotion. She and Maria were supposed to attend church on the mainland with one of Barbara's new lab partners. However, because of Maria 'ditching the last lecture and causing an ORCA wide search', the commander has banned her form Sunday shore leave. At least they'll get to attend the service this evening in the galley. One thing that doesn't make sense is that when Barbara went to get her coffee, she discovered that Herold, dressed in a smart suit with jacket and tie and holding his Bible; was going to church on shore with his father, Dr. Seymour. That just doesn't seem fair, but at least they'll be off ORCA for a little while. Barbara did try to take the chance to catch Dr. Seymour, but he just ignored her and ran out of the galley as fast as he could, along with Herold. She doesn't know what he remembers from last night, and not sure if he told his father anything. Hopefully he thinks it's only a dream.

Barbara hears a pounding coming from the shower. She opens it, Maria's in mermaid form, in an awkward u-shaped position on the floor, with the shower water hitting her. Her arms are crossed, and she looks at her mother with a sour look on her face. Barbara can't help but smirk.

"No pounding, people will hear you;" Maria gives her mother an ugly look; Barbara smirks again and closes the shower door. Not only did she make Maria sleep in the dry bed last night, she's making her water down in the tiny toilet closet. Maria also needs to come up with a least two alternatives of how she could have handled Herold, and right then down 50 times each and say them out load at least 10 times.

Later, the duo enters the galley for brunch. For Maria, this is punishment. She has to eat in here, surround by dozens of people, in what seems like a cramped space at the moment. A galley lady spots them in line and hands Maria a tray.

"Shrimp and grits, by special request, and special order."

Maria whispers thank you and smiles. After adding toast, a banana, and apple juice to her plate, she and Barbara see both Cass and Winston waving at them, urging them to join them. Both have knots in their stomachs.

"Good morning Dr. H;" greets Winston; "How are you? I though you two were going to church on the mainland."

"Yea well, we got banned from the boat today;" answers Barbara.

"You mean she's banned;" Cass looks at Maria; who's looking down; "Honestly I wished I had ditched too. Don't know why I didn't. 8 hours of lectures! A whole day wasted."

"I wouldn't push it Cass;" says Winston; "Unfortunately, they're not over for me. I was going to go to shore today, but I got volunteered to process all the notes, so I'm stuck here too."

"I hate to hear that;" replies Barbara; "Back in FL almost nobody worked on Sunday, nor was anybody expected to work. It was still a day of rest. Whatever happened to that?"

"Workaholics in a fast moving world;" Cass replies wearily; "like my Dad says. The world doesn't stop for Sunday, or Christmas. I can't remember the last time I didn't spend Christmas by myself. Maybe that will change since we're all in counseling. At least now they're actually stopping work early on Sundays and we're having dinner together. And Mom has stopped assuming I'm in trouble every time I try to say anything to her."

"Unfortunately that's a common problem for parents in these kinds of careers;" says Barbara; "Our careers demand so much from us."

"I take it that is why you home-school Maria and take her on the boat with you;" says Winston.

"Partly;" she looks at Maria; "What time is the service tonight?"

"About 7:00;" answers Winston; "they serve light refreshments before it starts."

"Hey;" says Cass; "Winston should be done with those papers by 2:00. Why don't we all take a boat and go snorkeling. We should be able to take wave runners. That would be fun. And I haven't skied in a while."

Shocked, Winston nearly chocks and coughs; "Yea, I guess. But uh, coffee's still fine, since you're not much of tea drinker, anyway, Dr. H."

Actually, Barbara would love to do those things, but either alone or with a much larger group. Cass would be fine, but she really doesn't know Winston at all. Plus, Maria and water are a serious issue. Besides, she's being punished.

"Well, now's probably not..." Maria kicks Barbara. As long as they are in a public place, she shouldn't have to worry about Winston hurting her mother. Maybe he's one of those rare too good to be true ones. Everyone seems to love him, especially the kids. Although that means nothing. At least maybe it'll get him, and especially Cass, off her Mom's back.

"Well, maybe a small chat, about our research."

"I'd sure love to hear more of your stories;" says Winton; "You may not remember Dr. H, but I saw you speak in Brisbane 6 years ago. Your passion and enthusiasm for marine life really touched me and inspirited me to switch my field from land geology to marine geology, and marine biology in general. I've kept up with your work these past years and you continue to inspire me. As they say, 'It only takes a spark to get a fire going."

Barbara is amazed; "Oh my goodness. I can't believe you remember that. It was my first presentation. I was so nervous I was sweating bullets from my palms. I really hated at the time that my professors made me do that. I thought I sucked."

"I didn't think you sucked. You were wonderful."

Cass looks over at Maria. Aside from just glancing at her mother, she's spent the whole time looking down at her plate, quietly eating. It's only now that Cass notices that Maria's dipping her raw shrimp in the grits, with her hands, without removing the head, tail, nor outer layer, and sticking it into her mouth. This girl is weird.

"Hey you, look at me."

Maria slowly looks at Cass, then starts to looks down again.

"Maria, look at her;" orders Barbara. Maria looks at Cass again, clearly very uncomfortable; "Are you fine with giving them some space? We can hang out. What do you say? I know you're shy. You don't even have to talk to or look at me. Just, let me be present."

Maybe, Maria should give the adults some space. As long as they stay around other people, Barbara should be safe. Cass should know if Winston can be trusted. Maybe Maria should talk to her. It's not like Cass is that much of a stranger.

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Half hour later, Cass and Maria have checked on Barbara and Winston, again. They're still talking. Cass realizes that Maria's apprehensive, and keeps urging her to calm down. Maria hasn't said a word this whole time, although her body language speaks volumes. She's trying to get up the courage to speak to Cass. While walking the halls, looking out at the sea, she finally succeeds.

"Cass, tell me about Winston?"

Cass is taken aback; "Why do you ask? Hey, you've finally spoken to me!"

"You spend time alone with Winston, right?"

Cass is puzzled; "What do you mean?"

Maria finally looks at her; "Are you ok with that? Does he, do anything, unappropriated too you?"

Cass is baffled at first, but then she thinks she knows where this is going; "Wait, are you asking if Winston has ever, abused me?"

Maria nods her head. Oh my! Cass can't believe what's she's being asked? She's heard of this, but has never come remotely close to such a thing.

"Look Maria;" Cass places a hand on her; "Winston would never hurt anybody. I can't believe you're suspecting such a thing. Winston's the kindest guy you'll ever meet. Give him some slack, will ya?"

Maria seems surprised by the answer; "You mean I can actually trust him?"

Cass shakes her head; "Of course you can trust him. No bull. Why so suspicious? It's not like it's happened to you."

Maria looks down, trying to maintain a poker face. Cass realizes she shouldn't have said that. Can it be?

"Oh my Maria. I'm so sorry. So, so sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I won't do it again. Please don't be sad. It's ok. Your Mom's in good hands. Trust me."

Just then, Ariel swims right in front of Maria, looking at her through the glass. She gasps. Ariel shouldn't be diving this deep. She can only hold her breath for up to ten minutes at the most. Ariel nods at Maria and points her snout downward.

Cass is amazed; "Wow. Is that an Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin? I've never seen a pink dolphin in person before."

That gets Maria's attention; "No actually. That an Aussie Humpback. Take a closer look."

Cass does and sees that Maria's right. She is shaped like an Aussie Humpback, except:

"But the Aussie isn't supposed to be pink, or so I thought. I thought only the Indos' were pink."

"Actually," replies Maria, "there are a few pink Aussie's. Not very common, but they do exist. She hates being confused for her cousins." _Oops. Too much info._

Cass is amazed in wonder. She waves to the dolphin, who waves back. She also notices a small tag on the dorsal fin. This dolphin sure does seem to have an interest in Maria. Then she seems to be pointing down and swims that direction. Maria gasp again.

"Something wrong?" Before Cass knows it, Maria points and says; "Look at that." Cass looks at a common school of mullet. The next thing she notices, Maria's gone. Cass is now embarrassed. She can't believe that she feel for that old trick.

Cass then wonders about that dolphin. She's never seen one stare through the glass so intently at somebody. What's going on here? This is strange, that's for sure. Come to think of it, all the odd things happening on ORCA started when the Hernándezs came aboard. Could they possibly have something to with it? Is Maria hiding something? What about the pink dolphin?

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The Bates are on their way to one of the more seclude beaches. Neri wants to spend the day "snorkeling" the Great Barrier Reef. Jason has surprised plans later for a private hike and sunset picnic nearby, and he'll give her the mermaid book as well.

On the way, Neri recognizes a street as the one with the mermaid museum. She insists they stop there. When the Bates try to object, Neri reminds them it's her birthday and she should do whatever she wants. Diane rolls her eyes. Sometimes Neri can act just like any other teenager.

In the tiny museum Neri looks at the pictures, then she spots the sea blue stone. She'd almost forgotten about it. She just stares at it, not knowing why.

"Aw Neri;" says Jason; "we need to go now."

"Wait." Neri spots a young man at the desk; "Hello. Tell be about stone."

He looks at her strangely; "Excuse me?"

"Please tell me about the stone over there;" Neri points.

"Oh, that stone. Well, I don't know much. I just work here." They walk over to the stone; "Pretty isn't it? Well, aside from the description, I know it's a very rare form of opal. It's shaped like the moon, or part of it anyway." Neri touches the glass while staring intently.

"Please Miss, no touching."

"Sorry. I feel strange power from it. What else do you know?"

Diane's about to say something about Neri questioning the guy, but he continues; "Well, I do know that the owner purchased it from a museum auction in Alaska. He said that mermaids supposedly wear rings made from that same opal. Don't know why."

"Where is owner?"

"Neri, come on;" urges Jason. However, the employee answers.

"He won't be back for a couple weeks."

"That is fascinating;" says Diane; "Neri, we really do need to go if you want to explore the reef."

Neri relents. She'd love to know more, but Diane's right. Maybe she can find out more later on. What is this strange feeling about this stone? Neri can't help but feel that it's important. Maybe there are mermaids out there who stay hidden from humanity, just like she does.

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Maria enters the diving level. Her guess was right. There's Ariel at the water opening, chirping away. Maria squats and speaks dolphin.

"Ariel, what are doing? I told you not to come down here. You'll get us both in more trouble."

* _Look Maria. I can breathe;_ * goes Ariel; _*what trouble? I'm lonely. I need to play. Please.*_

Ariel splashes Maria. She hears the door open; "Oh no." She transforms and falls down. Tails aren't meant for upward support.

"Somebody in here;" comes a voice. Maria quickly drag herself into the water. Morgan hears the splash and runs over to the opening. She sees the splash ripples, but nothing there.

"What was that?" wonders Morgan; "It sounded like dolphins." Morgan shakes her head and leaves.

Later, Charlie's enjoying some salmon. He doesn't have to eat quite as much during winter months with his fat reserves, but still enjoys opportunity feedings. Missy and other females with nursing calves hardly remember to eat at all during the winter, and Charlie makes sure that she does.

Something catches Charlie's eye, it's the pink humpback dolphin! She's seems to be after some mullet. Charlie hopes that she won't scare the salmon away with her seemly aggressive cheekiness, but what's she doing over here? She's better not get any closer towards the canyon. Dangerous, aggressive sharks gather in that area, as well as some of the saltwater crocodiles that live on Neri's island. Neri and Charlie themselves don't go to that area, unless it's an emergency.

Wait. This dolphin was seen with…..could it be? YES! There she is, THE CREATURE! Charlie can't believe it! He's seeing her. He's so exciting she could just sing, which he does. The creature hears and looks towards him, but she immediately turns her focus back to the dolphin. She seems to be trying to calm the dolphin down and direction away, towards the shallower waters. Charlie hopes so.

The dolphin finally follows the creature, or is she? Seems as if she's chasing the fish towards the shallow. The creature follows her. Whoa, she's getting pretty close to shore. While intelligent, some silly dolphins will get themselves beached from time to time. Wait, that's Neri's island!

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Maria follows Ariel towards the shoreline. Ariel is trying to corner some tiny fish. Maria's trying to convince her not to get to close to the shore, but Ariel's in full feeding mode and before they know it, they are in up and down two to three feet of water, with Ariel happily feasting. Both of them are near the low tide line.

"Watch it girl. Don't beach yourself;" unfortunately, it's not uncommon for humpback dolphins to do so while feeding. Ariel nods and tosses a fish to Maria, who catches it.

"Oh, thank you." Maria eats the fish. Ariel tosses another. They'll be ok as long as Ariel doesn't move any closer to the shore line. Maria looks at the island they've landed on. At first glance, it seems like the other islands in the area, not that Maria isn't interesting in exploring it. As she looks at it, she gets the feeling that something's different here. The trees some to be more, greener, kind of like they're dancing. The birds even seem to be more cheerful then on the other islands they've visited. Maria feels drawn. She catches herself when Ariel tosses another fish. She really doesn't have time to be exploring an island right now. She has to return to ORCA before Barbara discovers she's gone. She's not supposed to be out free swimming right now, she's grounded.

She's about to turn her attention back to Ariel when something catches her eye. It looks as if there might be footprints further up on the dry sand towards the trees. They appears to be human patterned. Interested, Maria informs Ariel that she's going ashore for a few minutes, to wait on her, and firmly, sounded like her mother, to go back a couple feet further and not to beach herself. She then drags herself out of the water and activates her Hydro-Thermokinesis to dry herself off.

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Charlie is SHOCKED! Did he see what he thinks he just saw? The creature dragged herself out of the water, a steam cloud appeared around her, and she stood up, on LEGS. Human legs. Not only that, she went from (mostly) naked to fully clothed, with shoes, her freely flowing hair now pulled up, everything. What just happened? How did she do that? Where's the dolphin? Oh, there she is. Dancing on the water and waving.

Strange. What kind of creature is this? Did she just go from fish-like creature to human, or human-like? What's she doing on Neri's island? Did she plan this, or did she just happened to end up here? Is it a good thing, or a bad thing, that Neri's away? Charlie's not sure. He's better keep his eye on her, and that cheeky young dolphin.

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Maria leaves her shoes and socks on the beach. She prefers to be barefooted at every possible opportunity. Yes, the footprints are definitely human. There are a few sets, some over lapping each other. Some head towards the water, some seem to be coming out of the water. Interesting. Who's been here? Has somebody been here exploring, perhaps another mermaid? She doesn't find any boat or drag marks, but those were probably washed away by the tide.

She follows the tracks into the jungle, until she come across what looks like a campsite, a very primitive camp site. The tools, including a knife, spear, and bowls, look like they're made from the jungle, living off the land. Maria and Barbara do this a lot, but never to this extreme. She looks around noticed what looks like a nest in the tree. She climbs it and it does look like somebody's been sleeping up here. She's never sleep in a tree before. Who's been here? Another mermaid/merman perhaps? The footprints appear to be belong to an adult female. Maybe a "real" natural-born one? Not likely, as natural mermaids rarely venture on land unless they have a mission, and if they do, they'd have to be able to access the light of the full-moon, or store it, like in a moon ring, and know how to use right. If they did, they wouldn't sleep on dry land, not voluntarily.

Maybe it's a human turned mermaid (or land-girl born) like herself, or a half-breed, like Gabby, whose gone wild. Maybe a part-time wild. Maybe it's even a merman, although he'd have smaller, slender shaped feet.

Maria takes in the beautiful, peaceful surroundings wanting to feel the fresh water of the pool and the water fall. Suddenly she gets intense, brick-pounding headache, unlike anything she's ever felt before. She grabs her head, screaming in pain, then it starts to ease. Breathing heavily, Maria tries to gather herself. _What happened? Where did that come from?_ _Is that what a migraine feels like?_ The pains just about gone when she gets it again, more intensely, and hears a sound, like a melody scream.

"What…..was….that?" Maria hasn't been this freaked since her first metamorphosis. That sounded like it was coming, from inside her head. It sounded like….a humpback whale?

Scared, Maria takes it as a sign she'd better get out of here, at least for now.

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Charlie's exhausted. He's been trying to make contact with the creature. After several attempts of nothing, he thinks he finally made connect, hearing only a scream. The talk is that she communicates with dolphins, and she clearly was, with actual dolphin sounds coming out of her mouth. That's different from how he and Neri speak, inside each other's head. Henry and Missy both also said that she doesn't, or hasn't, spoken whale, at least their language. However, Charlie decided to try, being that he has Neri's gift. Did he just succeed?

Charlie just about misses the duo, swimming away frantically. He calls out to her again, but no reply. They don't look back, just they just keep going.

Oh, so she has a tail again. No clothes (except her top), and hair freely loose again. How did she do that? Does she do that every time she goes on land? Is she magic or something?

Charlie follows quietly from a distance. He wants to see where they're going?

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After several hours of exploring the reef, Jason tells Neri he has a surprise for her. With a picnic basket and bag in tow, all four set off, then Diane and Brett break off, leaving Jason and Neri to go the other way. It hadn't quite occurred to Neri that the date would be just her and Jason, she'd forgot. The hike was only a couple miles, but the scenery was breathtaking, with some planets and even a couple winter blooming flowers that Neri's never seen before. Also on the trail, the saw an echidna, another first for Neri. It's not shy around them. Neri is amazed by its spikey fur, but especially my it's long, skinny beak and tough. When Jason tells her they lay eggs, Neri can't believe it at first.

A little further down the trail, Jason says he wants to make a stop. He's only learned of this from his grandparents the other night. He takes Neri's hand and leads her to a small cave.

"Jason, wants in here?"

"Wait for it." They'd better be right about this. And apparently, they were. Glowworms light up the cave. Neri and Jason are equally awed. Jason thinks it looks just like white Christmas lights, Neri thinks of the stars.

"Beautiful. Feel like I'm in sky. More beautiful then light bugs."

"I know." Jason then gets an idea; "Neri, want to dance?"

"Dance? No music."

Actually, Jason brought his little tape recorder. Neri giggles, then joins Jason in a little slow dance as soft music plays. By the end of the music, without realizing it, Neri has leaned her hand on Jason's shoulder. It was a magical moment.

"Thank you for bringing me here."

"You're welcome."

They leave the cave and finish the hike. They arrive on a beautiful white beach with an amazing view of the Sydney Harbor and bridge. They are the only ones there, just as Jason hoped. The sun will be setting soon. Jason lays out the picnic and food. He even brought a couple little candles. Neri smiles, even though a fire would be great, the candles will do. They eat mostly in silence, taking in the perfect ocean breeze, the crashing of the waves, the breath taking view, and the seagulls flying over.

Before it gets to dark, Jason gets out the book and Neri unwraps it. She looks at the drawing on the cover.

"Jason, this book of mermaids?"

"Yes, Neri. It is."

"Nice. What it say?"

"Haven't read it yet. Wanted to read it too you?"

"Please start."

"It's getting dark. I will back at the hotel. Besides, it's sunset."

Neri looks. It is indeed sunset. The sky is a pink and orange, reflecting off a few small clouds, the Sydney skyline, and the bay. Neri almost cries. She can almost feel her father's arms around her again.

"Isn't it time to make a wish?"

"Yes." Neri closes her eyes and makes her wish. She can't tell Jason, but she wishes to stay with her family, especially Jason, forever. Even though she'd love to see her birth world and her own people, her heart is with her family. If only Mera was here, then it would be perfect.

Neri looks in Jason eyes; "Thank you Jason, for everything." They start to kiss. Then there's a cheer. Brett comes up behind them, followed by Diane.

"HEY! Perfect timing you Knucklehead;" says an annoyed Jason; "What are doing here?"

"How do you think you're getting back to the hotel?" answers Brett in his cracking voice.

Neri shakes her and actually says "Knucklehead" underneath her breath. Brett hears her.

"Hey, only Jason's allowed to call me names."

"I like a sister, am I?" replies Neri.

"Ok Brett;" says Diane; "give them a few more minutes. Let's go back up."

"All man."

Jason shakes his head; "Knucklehead. Where were we?"

"Here." They kiss again. Diane takes a photo of them with the Sydney sunset sky behind them.


	7. Chapter 7

The day after her birthday, the Bates are meeting with their family again at the beach. Neri's been playing with the girls all morning, although only Lola gets in the water. She's a true water bug and getting her out of the water for lunch and sunscreen reapply proves difficult. She just wants to swallow her PBJ sandwich and get back into the water. Kelly, however, is scared of the water at first and doesn't want to get anywhere near it. Not long after lunch, however, Neri not only succeeds in getting the toddler to overcome her fear of the water and waves, Kelly now doesn't want to exit the water either.

Jenny is astounded; "Neri, how did you do that? I've tried "everything."

Neri smiles back; "I gently guided her to the water and told her there was nothing to fear, I'd protect her."

Jenny drops her mouth, "I've done that several times. They say sometimes children need reassurance from somebody else."

Neri just smiles back.

The next day, Diane, the boys, and Neri go to "The Big House". Before noon, they take a guided walking tour of the place. They visited the mostly empty Concert Hall and the Joan Sutherland Theatre, where they will see the "The Nutcracker" during the evening. Neri was disappointed that it wouldn't be in the big hall, but the ballet theatre is pretty too. While she could hardly follow along with the historic and construction details (which were Brett's favorite part of the stories), Neri really appreciated the Architectural details. They got to run their hands over the world-famous shell tiles, which up close are actually two different colors, and got to sit in the elegant custom-made white birch timber chairs and marveled at the vaulted ceilings. It really amazed Neri that people actually made all of this, and it was all what they call pain-staking task. At the end of the tour, they had a meal at the Opera Bar, Neri choosing the Black Angus Rump Roast.

Later that evening, they returned to see "The Nutcracker". While no words were spoken during the show and Neri only understood a little of the story as it went along; she was lost in awe at the beautiful scenery; sparkling costumes, and enchanting dance moves. She's still wondering how the performers are capable of such movements.

"Talent and lots and lots of practice;" answers Diane.

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Charlie lays off trying to contact the creature for a couple of days. He knows she was freaked out and decided to give her some space. The humpback gossip chain has finally revealed that there is a word in their language for this creature, Humanfish. Charlie laughs when he hears it, that's quite obvious, although word is they aren't actual human, but are decadent from humans. As far as the whales from down south say, there hasn't been any humanfish seen within hundreds of miles of the mainland shores for decades. However, there is a known pod of them around an uninhabited island chain nearly two thousand miles towards the southeast, far from any human settlements.

 _If that's so,_ wonders Charlie; _what is she doing here so far away from her own kind?_

Curious, Charlie decides to return to ORCA and watch for her. However, Missy informs him that she, the dolphin, and the boat they follow have already left ORCA and headed back towards Henry's area. _Why do they always go to Henry's territory?_ Against his better judgement, Charlie decides to follow, as long as he stops before crossing territories, he'll be fine.

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Maria hasn't had the headaches in the past few days, not that she's had time to think about it. She and Barbara have been mounted with field work all week. When not out at sea with her Mom, Maria's been busy with school work. Its summer holiday's back home, here however, its winter and school resumes in a few days. Also when not out at sea, she's been restricted to around the pontoon, for "valuating her punishment" last Sunday. She hasn't told her Mother about the headaches. Hopefully what happened was just a fluke.

Despite seeing him last Sunday, she still hasn't had a chance to formally meet Charlie. She intends to do so as soon as she can get away.

Maria has the underwater camera. She's filming some sea turtles and dolphins, including Ariel, who has little interest in meeting the other dolphins, sticking close to her 'new partner'. The dolphins then start chatting like crazy. Something is going on a several miles south. Maria decides to investigate, camera in hand. She can't believe her eyes. Henry and another full size male nearly collide! Henry proceeds to give the other giant male a couple warning bumps then "sings". The other male replies and slowly backs away. Henry follows a little ways, then they do what looks like a peace dance, and finally the other male swims away.

 _Jeez,_ wonders Maria, getting the whole thing on tape; _what was that about? Was that Charlie? What's he doing over here? Is he following me?_

Maria's had the feeling that Charlie's been watching her, not that she blames him. Looks like his curiosity got the best of him!

Charlie can't believe he just did that. He crossed in Henry's territory! He wasn't paying attention. He's usually so careful about that. If Neri were here, she'd stop him before he'd make that mistake. Henry says he hopes he didn't hurt him, but warns Charlie not to cross the line without his permission. Nature's laws are built into them and they can't help it. He can, however, still call to her.

Maria hurries back to the boat and tells Barbara what happened. She chuckles and is glad neither whale seems hurt. Maria then dives back under with Ariel. They start to play hide and seek when suddenly, Maria screams. The severe headache has returned out of nowhere. Maria tries hard to fight it and returns to the boat, visibly shaken.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Mama, we've got to get out of here?"

"Why?"

"Please Mama, I can't explain, let's just go."

Barbara doesn't understand what's happening, but realizing that her daughter's shaken, she complies and they return to ORCA early. While trying to console her daughter, Maria just shrugs it off and refuses to speak. It's unusual for her not to tell Barbara what's wrong, and it has her worried. However, she knows it's best not to push the issue for the moment.

Getting out of the boat, Maria stares out at Charlie as he jumps. She feels the headache again, although it's more bearable this time, then hears the song. Charlie surfaces again. She tilts her head, wondering.

The next day, Maria's on her way to do more school work, when the headaches start again, more intensely then before. Grabbing her head and crouching down, her screams are heard throughout the level. People stop and try to comfort her, but she just keeps screaming in pain. She's taken to the medical bay, where she checks out healthy otherwise. Barbara arrives and the doctor describe what happened, with a possible diagnose of juvenile migraines. Maria has another headache in front of them, this time hearing the whale song loud and clear, and Barbara ask the doctor to leave so she they can talk alone. Maria has no choice but to tell her mother.

"What didn't you tell me about this the other day?"

Maria's breathing hard from the last headache, "Because I thought it was a fluke."

"You've never had headaches before. What's going on inside your head?"

Maria's not sure how to explain; "It's like, behind the pain, there's a whale song inside my head."

"A whale, inside your head?"

Maria nods; "I don't know what to make of it. I'm scared."

Barbara thinks about the situation, she's not sure what to make of it either, except; "Well, your abilities are only just developing, and you most likely have abilities that haven't awaken yet. Maybe you can talk to whales."

"Inside my head?"

"Maybe it's telepathy or something."

Maria shrugs her shoulders. Telepathy isn't very common among natural-born mermaids, much less human-born ones. She talks to every kind of dolphin, seals, and sea lions, but she hasn't been able to communicate with whales yet. She then thinks of Charlie. Did he have something to do with this? Whales and dolphins do have sensory telepathy, but real ESP?

There's only one way to find out, it's time to meet Charlie.

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The Bates are spending the evening in their hotel room enjoying pizza and taking turns reading aloud from the mermaid book. The stories only serve to deepen their curiosity, especially Neri's. Neri was very surprised to discover that legends of mermaids are very different from the Merpeople in the movie. For one thing, they are believed to breathe air, not water as they did in the movie. Some stories say that seeing a mermaid means blessings and protection from the sea and winds, other stories say that mermaids are cursed and that they bring hostile seas, sink ships on purpose, and even cause human death. Another story says they use what's called a siren call to get human men to fall in love with them. Some folklore says they are benevolent or beneficent, curious about humans and even in some cases, goddesses. Other folklore says they are monsters and hostile towards humans.

Stories of mermen aren't as common, and say that they aren't as attractive as their female counterparts, and while other legends say that females are more monstrous and animalistic looking then people want to believe. The illustrations in the book, several which are displayed in the museum, are just as various as the descriptions.

There are even some "supposed" recent sightings mention in the book, such as a mermaid leaping out of Haifa Bay in a land known as Israel, doing aerial tricks. The Israeli government offered a $1 million award for proof of its existence, which still hasn't been claimed to this day. Another recent sighting happened in an African country known as Zimbabwe. Work on two reservoirs stopped when workers refused to continue, stating that mermaids had hounded them away from the sites. They wouldn't return to the sites until a spiritual cleansing ritual was performed to vanish the mermaids.

The stories intrigue but also confuse Neri; "Why are all stories so different? What is the truth?"

Diane looks at her 'daughter'; "Well Neri all of this is just human speculation. None of this came from the mouths of real mermaids."

Diane, Jason, and Brett can't say they are really certain that mermaids don't exist. That would be like saying that Neri doesn't exist.

"If they do exist, how come no scientific evidence has ever been found?" wonders Brett; "Not confirmed evidence at least."

"Have aliens, big foot, Nessie, or Santa Claus been confirmed by science to exist or not exist?" replies Jason, somewhat jokily.

"Don't get on to me about Santa Claus again."

Neri looks at a painting in the book; "What is this?" The painting, from the mid twentieth century, shows mermaids on shore, standing upright on their tails, and unloading fish from a fishing boat with smiles on their faces and a man looking on. This is something Neri thinks is absolutely ridiculous.

"I'm sure that picture is made-up."

The Bates agree, laughing.

"Is there something about the opal stone? Or the moon?" ask Neri.

The Bates are caught off guard. They haven't come across anything about any stone or the moon. Jason looks at the back index and finds nothing. He looks up magic and powers. Nothing about stones, opal, or anything, although it says that mermaids may use shells to perform magic or blow them to control the waves or to lore men.

Neri wonders if any of these details are even true. What are mermaids really like? What does that opal moon-shaped stone have to do with them? Perhaps the only way to find out is to actually talk to one.

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Maria stares at the sea from the pontoon. Barbara had reluctantly agreed to let her be on her own today, given a few ground rules. Charlie doesn't seem to be around at the moment, and Ariel says she hasn't seen him yet. Ariel squeaks cheerfully, wanting to play rather th **a** n look for a whale.

"What, don't be jealous girl. We'll play." Maria dives in and they play. Surely they'll cross paths with Charlie before long. An hour later, Maria surfaces for a breath, then the duo dance and do back flips out of the water. They are laughing and completely lost in the moment. But then, Maria glimpse an unwelcomed sight. Breaking the surface are black fins circling them. Going under, Maria's guess is right, a trio of killer whales are circling them, a couple more outside the circle. Their target is Ariel, yet while orcas are sometimes friendly with mermaids, Maria was friends with some back home, they won't let them get in the way of their target meal. Maria tries to reason with them, but they don't know what she is, and they're hungry! She looks underneath them, another orca is blocking their escape. She really hates to do this, she uses her power to make small waves around them to carry the predators away, but she can only concentrate on one orca at a time, and it only makes them more determine. She increases her power and makes ice block, hoping to distract them long enough so the duo can make a swim for it.

Suddenly, something huge appears, fighting off the orcas. It's a whale! Not just any whale.

It's Charlie!

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Neri enjoys one last glaze from the hotel balcony. Today's their last day in Sydney, and they will board the helicopter flight home in a couple of hours. It's been an amazing two weeks. Part of her is going to miss Sydney, and she hopes to return someday soon. It's such a wonderful, wondrous place. Neri's done so much and learned so much about humans, yet she has even more questions and wants to learn so much more. There's still so much more about Sydney to do and learn, not to mention so many other places around Australia, and the world itself, to see and explore.

While she's going to miss this place, Neri's more than ready to go home. She really misses her island, the waters she's familiar with, swimming freely without a snorkel, ORCA and her friends, and especially Charlie. She can't wait to see Charlie and tell him about her adventures in Sydney, and to hear what Charlie's been up too since she left.

Neri's thoughts shift to the Mermaid Museum and that Opal stone. She's disappointed that they didn't go back a third time. She has so many more questions.

The Bates join her on the balcony, Jason putting his arm around her, and take one look at Sydney Harbor, the bridge, and the Opera house. With one last breath of the ocean braze air, they go back inside, gather their luggage, and close the door behind them.

It's time to go home.


	8. Chapter 8

Maria looks right in Charlie's eye. They stare at each other. Charlie goes under, Maria and Ariel follow. They continue to stare at each other, Charlie seeing her clearly. This humanfish definitely looks perfectly human from the bellybutton up. She appears near adolescence, has large brown eyes, and her dark-brown hair half the length of Neri's. Her bottom half is a perfect fishtail, fines and all, shiny gold scales as if she's been kissed by the sun. Before they know it, they are swimming circles around each other, Ariel getting a little jealousy and swimming between them. The three of them soon realize they can play together, Maria even practices doing backflip over Charlie, something that Neri's never done. Ariel practices leaping and spinning over Charlie as well, and it doesn't take Maria long to figure out that she can hold onto the front fin as he pulls her along, just like with Neri.

Charlie takes his time before he tries connecting with Maria again. After a couple failed attempts, Charlie connects, and as before, she gets an extreme headache, suddenly reminding her as to way she was seeking Charlie out in the first place. Ariel swims around Maria as she clinches her head, concerned. Charlie, hearing her screams and seeing that she's hurting, quits. Maria swims to the surface, breathing heavy, head still pounding. Charlie decides to give her some space as Ariel surfaces, asking her partner if she's ok. With her head still pounding, Maria decides to try it again. Seeing Charlie surface, she waves to him and makes a hand signal. Charlie realizes what she's asking, and calls to her again.

Throughout the day, Charlie occasionally makes contact, everytime, however, Maria's head hurts, although less intensely .

"What's going here Ariel? Way does my head hurt so much?"

Ariel guess that Maria's trying too hard, and encourages her to breathe and relax instead of bracing herself so much and fighting the pain. Maria tries, although relaxing and letting go of her anxiety is difficult for her. While confused, Charlie can feel that she's tensed and frustrated. Much of what Charlie's hearing is either screaming or a scrambled song, not even a dolphin song, but more like he's own type of song. He knows it, he can hear her, and she can hear him, however, she doesn't seem to understand him. The song coming from her is choppy and scrambled. The connection is there. Charlie's sure with time the words will become clear, he just needs to be patient.

After several hours, Ariel informs Maria that they are near that island again. Maria's apprehensive at first about returning there, although she knows now that it was Charlie causing her headaches. After another half hour or so, she surfaces again and stares at the island. Something magnet seems to be pulling her towards it. She feels a nudge from Ariel, telling her to go find out for herself. Charlie appears next to her and nods, as if telling her to go. Ariel feels safe around Charlie and promises not to get to close to the shore line. Maria finally decides to go.

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Neri looks out as the helicopter passes by her island. It's a shame they can't stop and let her off right now, however, she needs to get her regular dress and give her family a proper goodbye. Her civilian clothes will be laundried and put away for the next shore trip, which may be soon as Diane's family invited them to Brisbane for a weekend soon, although only the boys and Neri plan to go. The boys will deliver her gifts to the island so they won't get wet.

After passing her island, she sees Charlie break the surface. She's so excited and eager, but doesn't contact him yet. She wouldn't be able to hear him in this helicopter, plus he'd just become confused and too impatient if she called him too soon. As they pass Neri sees something of a very light color also jump out of the water, leaping over Charlie.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?" asks Jason.

"Look."

They all look back where Charlie breaks the surface. Again, just barely still in view, something of a blush or cream color leaps out of the water again next to Charlie. It appears to be a dolphin leap. Neri wonders if it's one of those pinkish dolphins that usually don't wonder into Charlie's territory. Was that one or a pair of them? They usually get on Charlie's nerves with their over cheekiness. Neri tells of the time when three of them got stranded on her island. Fortunately, her and her father got them back into the water. On more than one occasion, she and Charlie had to save some from predators. Has Charlie made a new friend or two? He had to do something with himself while she was gone. She'll be finding out soon enough.

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A barefooted Maria inspects the footprints again. Aside from her own from her previous visit, it seems no new additional prints have been made. She once again explores the campsite and the nest. Somebody's definitely been staying here recently, within the last month. She finds what appears to be a couple holes in a tree, covered by large leaves. Inside these cubbies, she finds some interesting and completely unexpected items. There are what appears to be two old and well-worn garments, in the form of some sort of dresses. The fabric Maria can't identify. Other items in the cubbies are mostly stuff from the sea, such as seashells, rocks, coral, clams, and sand dollars. Other items, very interesting. A ballerina music box? Very odd indeed. There's also a few children's books about animals, various people of different groups and cultures, as well as postcards of locations in Sydney and Port Douglas. The most interesting thing, however, a small photo album containing only a few pictures.

The first picture she sees is of a woman and two boys in ORCA uniforms. Has she seen them before? She's not sure. She doesn't recall seeing them on ORCA, them again, she rarely pays attention to any of the males (except Winston now) aside from avoiding them, especially over the age of ten. The lady looks familiar, is this lady whom they briefly met when they arrived on the pontoon? Maria thinks of a couple other pictures she's seen on ORCA, one an administrative staff photo, the other with Winston. Is this the same lady, Dr. Diane Bates and her boys? What's a picture of them doing on this island? Is she the mermaid? What about the boys? How do they all fit into this?

Maria flips the page and there's another picture. It's of the same boys, a little older than in the previous picture. However, there's a different lady in this one, a teenage girl of high school age, dressed in an employee's uniform. Who's this girl? _Wait a second,_ Maria studies the picture intensely. This girl also seems familiar. Maria thinks back to that day. Yes, a teenage girl also greeted them. Yes, the two of them had made eye contact. Yes, there was some strange vibes coming from her. Is this the same girl? Winston did mention that he and Dr. Bates sometimes had a part-time lab assistant. What was her name? She keeps staring at the girl, wondering.

Maria then hears a helicopter coming. Despite being under the trees, she drops the album and dives for the bushes. She waits until the helicopter passes. She gets a brief glimpse of it and realizes it's an ORCA copter. After the interruption, she was going to pick the album back up, however, something else suddenly gasp her attention. It's a sixth sense magnetic draw. Without even trying to resist, she follows.

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Back on ORCA, the Bates have returned to their cabin, sharing hugs with Winston and Cass. After talking a little about their trip, the two fill them in with what's been happening on ORCA, Cass even mentioning that Winston's been getting "friendly" with the new scientist on board. The boys in particular laugh and Brett makes fun of Winston. Cass also mentions that a few strange things have been happening since they left.

"What kind of weird things?" ask Jason.

"Well," replies Cass; "Just things like water floating in mid-air out of the cooler, Herold's glue freezing to his hand, a cold soft drink turning boiling hot in a split second; things like that. Oh, and a pink dolphin hanging around ORCA."

"A pink dolphin?" ask Neri; "There was one playing with Charlie."

"She's an Aussie Humpback dolphin;" adds Winston; "Dr. Hernandez tagged her a week ago. She's been hanging out here ever sense. Seems really attacted to Maria."

"Who's Maria?" ask Brett.

"Oh, Dr. H's daughter;" answers Cass; "I knew them back in FL. I know Dr. H pretty well, but her daughter's, well, eccentric would be the word I think. Extremely shy and withdrawn too. But she's finally starting to open up to me a little, although finding her at times is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, or catching her is like trying to nail a speedy mouse."

As much as they want to stay and chat, Winston urges Cass that they need to let their friends get resettled and will meet up with them later. Brett inparticular wants to hear about Cass's sort of friend. Neri would love too as well, she sounds very interesting, but she hears Charlie calling to her as he sensed her presence.

Changing into her ORCA uniform, Neri stares at her clothes. Diane joins her; "You'll get to wear them again darling." Neri nods, "I know. It's just, I enjoyed all of it. I feel, normal in them."

"I know what you mean." They warmly embrace. Neri has always felt like part of the family, but these last two weeks really made her feel like one of them. Now, it's time to return to the sea and to Charlie.

Jason escorts Neri to the diving deck. She exchanges her uniform for her normal dress. Putting it on seems surreal, even a little bit strange. The duo look at the water opening.

Jason sieges; "Well Neri, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes. It was so lovely Jason."

"I'll admit, it'll be strange not having you with us tonight. And not seeing you first thing in the morning."

"I'll miss it too, but they'll be others."

Jason nods; "You're right. Spend the night here again soon."

"I will. Charlie calls." Neri gives Jason a little kiss and tells him she loves him, Jason quickly replies, awkwardly. Taking Neri's hand, they slowly let go as she dives into the water. Taking one last look at each other, they wave goodbye and Neri disappears into the water.

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Maria continues to follow the magnetic pull. After avoiding some quick sand and crocodiles, she finds what appears to be a large rock in the middle of a pond. This rock is the size of a two-story house. The feeling Maria's having is similar to what she feels when she finds a moon pool or something merfolk related. Could it be? Unfortunately, there's a large saltwater crocodile in front of the rock, looking intently at her. From what she can tell, this croc appears to be 16 or 17 foot long, maybe larger. There's at least two other smaller crocs in the pond as well, most likely an apex male and his females. When the big one growls and submerges, she quickly runs away. In water, she can easily out-swim crocodiles; on land next to the water's edge, however, she's a goner if that big male attacks. Even though salt water crocs don't eat much during winter, they'll still aggressively defend their territory.

After running some distance, she just manages to catch herself from falling down a hole. A closer look shows that the hole has a rope going down it, and the edges are made of metal? _What could this be? A bunker?_ There's only one way to find out. She slowly makes her way down the rope. It's somewhat dark down here, but Maria's got "night vision." It seems huge! Maria lets go of the rope and places her feet on the floor. The second she does, however, it feels like a small puddle of the floor, and her bare feet are now wet.

"Darn it!"

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Neri swims gleefully. It feels wonderful to be swimming freely again without a snorkel! She meets up with Charlie (Ariel having gone off for a meal), and they both start talking at once overlapping each other. They are over ecstatic to be reunited. They stop, then say in unison; "You go first." They both laugh. Finally they relent and Neri goes first. Charlie listens with intent, although he doesn't know many of the things she's talking about, he's so happy she had such a good time. While she has so much more to tell him in detail, Neri catches herself and allows Charlie a turn, as he seems so excited about something has well.

Charlie first tells her about saving little Neri from Orcas, then the pink dolphin, which Neri asked about. He also confesses to colliding with Henry.

Neri shakes her head; "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. You know better than that. Why did you go over there?"

Charlie, who's been deliberating holding off the juicy part, now starts to tell the story.

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Maria climbs back out of the hole, breathing heavily. Climbing with a tail of pure muscle, weighing twice as much as her whole human body, isn't easy. Before she finishes dragging herself out of the hole, she's dried off just enough for her tail to change back into legs. She'll have to bring water resented shoes and probably a rain coat if she wants to explore this bunker. It's too wet down there. Before she climbed back up, she took a moment to look around. It was huge. It also didn't look like what she'd expect a bunker to look like, although it was probably only the entrance way. She'll have to wait another day, her Mom will want to explore it too.

Maria wonders why there'd be a bunker on this island. Did the mermaid use it? Maybe for bad weather? Maybe this island was used during a previous war, but as the guide book said, none of these islands in this sector have ever been inhabited, yet war history is often kept secret. She's never heard of any mermaid pods using underground land shelters, they usually just away from the storm. If it's a huge storm, they'll stay under water or caves till the storms pass.

She probably needs to get back to the ocean soon. However, she spots a small fresh water river. Needing a drink and a wet down, she decides to swim in the fresh water, a treat for her.

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Neri's stunned shocked. Did she hear Charlie right? He just told her that he's meet a humanfish and the dolphin's her friend. Neri's confused by the word at first, Charlie's description, however, sounds like that of a young mermaid. She ask Charlie to please repeat, and he tells her that the creature looks perfectly human on top, and that he had just formally meet her a few shorts hours ago.

Neri's can't believe it! Can it really be? A mermaid? Here? Charlie assures Neri that she just appeared while she was away, and that whale word is there haven't been any seen anywhere near hear in several decades, long before Neri's people arrived. Before Neri can really wrap her head around it, Charlie adds that the humanfish accompanies a lady in a boat, she speaks to dolphins, she's mostly been in Henry's territory up till now, and that she grows human legs on land! "Please repeat that Charlie." He does, and informs Neri that she's currently on her island!

Neri's ecstatic! She immediately races towards her home, her head still spinning with what she's just been told. After learning about these mythical creatures in Sydney, she comes to discover that one's actually arrived here!

MERMAIDS ARE REAL!

Maria's enjoying the fresh water river, watching some fresh water fish she's never seen before. Suddenly, she hears Charlie and her head throbs once again. "Charlie? What is it?" She swims up river, knowing that it will get her close to the 'safe' beach.

Neri arrives home. She's too excited to stop and take in the sweet island sea breeze. She immediately catches sights of footprints that don't belong to her, they are too small. Are they the mermaid's? Neri follows them into the jungle, headed towards her campsite. As she heads that way, it suddenly hits Neri; _this mermaid grows legs on land? What does that mean?_ She thinks over the movie and the tails from the book. Ariel got legs first from drinking the potion that lasted three days, then permanently from her father's magic stick. There were a couple of legends from the book of them gaining legs to search for human love, some missing the sea so much they returned. Could they really change from tail to legs and back again at will? What's she doing on Neri's island? Curiosity?

Charlie also said that she talks with dolphins, and the pink dolphin seems to be her companion. He also said they've connect. Can she talk to Charlie the same way Neri dose?

Neri arrives at her camp, the same smaller footprints all over the sight. Some things have touched and moved. Neri finds her picture book in the sand. The mermaid's found her personal stuff! Good or bad? She sure hopes not bad, though Charlie seems to trust her. She then remembers that Charlie said that the pink dolphin's been hanging around ORCA, and that the mermaid was usually accompanied by a human lady in a boat. Does she go to ORCA too?

Maria drags herself out of the river through the bushes, and hears the waves. As much as she really doesn't want too dry off just to get wet again a few seconds later, a slow drag up the hill and through the sand is such a, drag. She does so, regains her legs for just a few seconds, runs into the sea, and transforms again. One of the not so pleasant things about being magic, drives her crazy sometimes.

Neri follows the footprints, noticing where they're heading. She hopes that the mermaid hasn't gone to the Bad Lands. Charlie then calls, informing her that the mermaid has returned to the sea.

Maria spots Charlie and Ariel, smiling at them. Ariel tells her that she's been hearing those "vibrations" that come from her mother's boat for the past hour. Maria gasp. She didn't realize how late it was getting, she usually doesn't. She looks Charlie in the eye and waves goodbye.

 _NO!_ Thinks Charlie; _Not yet._

As Neri runs back to the sea, she sees the mermaid through Charlie's eyes! There she is! She's real! Neri can see the golden scaled tail and the perfectly young human upper body. She does look like a normal human girl! She's not scary looking at all! She's cute and beautiful, especially those big brown eyes.

She also sees the dolphin next to the mermaid. Then she looks like she's waving goodbye to Charlie and starts swimming away. What? WAIT! Charlie's call confirms her suspicions. Neri picks up the paces and enters the water.

Maria and Ariel follow the vibration sounds of her mother's device and finally catch up to the boat.

"Maria, where have you been?" says Barbara; "I've been looking and signaling you for over an hour."

"Sorry Mama, I was on this strange island."

Barbara tilts her head; "I thought you were looking for Charlie."

"I did. I found him!"

"Well, come on board and tell me about it."

"But I can't be seen returning to ORCA with you today;" reminds Maria; "Isn't that right?"

"Well, yes…."

"That means I can swim all the way back to ORCA!"

"Ah," Barbara relents; "Yes, I suppose so."

"Great! I'll race you!"

"Maria!" Maria and Ariel dive and swim away. Barbara sieges and gets the boat going.

"Honestly. How am I going to keep tabs on her when she's a teenager?"

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Back on ORCA, the Bates are having an early dinner in the galley with Winston and Cass. They swap stories back and forth, the Bates looking at each other perplexed as Cass describes Maria.

"Really, she actually does that?" ask Jason in response to Maria's odd taste and eating style.

"So she's a vegetarian?" ask Brett.

"More like a pescetarian it sounds like;" replies Diane; "She eats fish, but no other meat."

"Land meat as she calls it;" adds Cass.

"Actually;" adds Winston; "I'd call her an ovo-pescetarian. She eats eggs, but not many dairy products. I believe she drinks coconut milk however."

"That's not dairy Winston;" says Cass.

The Bates laugh. "Where's her Dad?" Brett suddenly asks.

Winston and Cass get puzzled looks on their faces, look at each other, and shrug their shoulders. "I do not know;" answers Winston; "Barbara hasn't mentioned him, and I don't dared to ask. She is reluctant to talk about things too personal, and I do not press her for details."

Cass had asked Maria about her dad and she looked shocked. She then looked at the floor, cringed her fists, and looked back up at Cass shaking her head no. Cass apologized and told her to forget it, and Maria had replied with "Thank You."

"Maria won't talk about him either;" adds Cass; "she hardly talks, but hardly is better than not talking to me at all."

Diane sighs. Poor ladies, it sounds something really bad must have happened to them in the past.

"What about these weird things happening onboard?" asks Jason. The Bates keep looking at each other as Cass describes them, far weirder then anything Neri dose. She also talks about the dolphin, assuring them that it's an Aussie and not an Indo. It's been hanging around ORCA for about a week and a half and seems intently attached to Maria, following their boat every time they leave and returning with them, waiting for the next time Maria comes back out.

Diane's not too surprised; some dolphins do develop close bonds with humans and stay close to them, although this one seems to have formed rather quickly, and seems more intense them other bonds. Winston adds that Ariel's been providing tons of information on her rare known species, including hypnosis that she may be special amongst her bred. It's also curious that she swims alone.

"I think she's chosen Maria to be her partner;" says Winston with a little chuckle.

Cass thinks about Maria. They've talked little since last Sunday, meeting up only a couple of times. Cass has been wondering if Maria and Dr. H are somehow connected to these incidents. Maria definitely acts like she's got more to hide them just abuse. She's even wondered if they're anything like Neri, considering the amount of time they spend on the water as well as on the pontoon, plus the way Dr. H prefers to work alone aside from her daughter, and those amazing video images they take. Maria also seems to be thirsty often, and seems to disappear from ORCA often even when her mother's onboard, although Herold often dose too.

Speaking of Herold, he's largely been avoiding both her Cass and Maria this past week and hasn't bothered either of them, which is very unusual for him. He does, however, gives Maria weird looks from time to time, she just turns her head or looks down. Then yesterday, Herold finally approached them and asked Maria why she's been invading his dreams so much, and he has suddenly become so weary about anything cold.

Going back to her theory, despite Cass's suspicions, Maria's declined three times to go for a swim or dive with her. Despite hearing that she loves water, Cass has never seen Maria anywhere near water. Now that she thinks about it, Maria seemed to avoid getting wet in the past. Something doesn't seem to be adding up. Until Cass is more certain, she keeps her suspicions to herself.

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Maria sticks her head above the water of the diving hole and nearly freaks out to see somebody sitting there looking at her.

"Well hello Magali Marie;" Barbara says in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, hey Mama."

"You're late."

"Sorry;" Maria replies sheepishly. Ariel pops her head up as well.

"Ariel;" says Maria in dolphin; "You need to quite diving this deep."

"So you don't do what I say, and she doesn't do what you say;" chuckles Barbara; "What goes around comes around as they always say. Wished I listened when my mother told me that."

"Grandma says you were, and still are, a lot more hard-headed then me."

Barbara nearly chucks up; "Don't remind me. And I've begged her to quite sharing those stories with you. Come on out, please."

As her daughter climbs out and dries off, Barbara remembers something; "Oh, speaking of Grandma, she sent me an e-mail. Jane saw Gabby a few weeks ago and informed her of our whereabouts. Said that she may head this direction."

Maria looks at her mother; "Gabby's coming here? All this way?"

"She may head here, but can't promise that. You know how she is."

"Yea I know."

As the they go through the doors, Neri climbs aboard unnoticed.


End file.
